


Thicker Than Water

by BehindTheCorner



Series: The Walking Dead: Tables Turned Trilogy [2]
Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Family, Gen, Horror, Tragedy, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2018-11-19 11:35:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 69,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11312559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BehindTheCorner/pseuds/BehindTheCorner
Summary: Blood is thicker than water, but family isn't just about blood. Family is about faith, loyalty and those you love.Days after the outbreak saw Mariana separated from Javier and the rest of her family, just after the death of her beloved grandfather and her grandmother being bitten. Relying on David to protect her, and also teach her how to survive, she is forced to learn who to trust and how to survive. Because in this world, no one can be trusted besides family, or at least that's what David had taught her.After meeting a young woman named Ava, the trio set off from Baltimore in a search for safety and supplies, finding themselves quickly shoved in a story with familiar people, and join a settlement that is hiding more than they bargained for. Quickly, the young girl will learn that often, blood is thicker than water, but family isn't always of blood.





	1. Going Our Separate Ways

Mariana couldn't understand what was going on and everyone just kept avoiding all of her questions, giving her vague answers or changing the subject. Her family had spent days in her grandfather's house, everyone except Javier, David kept calling him over and over, yet her uncle was nowhere to be found.

She was confused, watching as David let go of his father's hand and quickly stormed out of the room, unable to look at her grandfather lying in that bed anymore. Yaya was upset, she could see the tears that the old woman tried to hide from her and Gabriel, and it wasn't long before she left the room as well. Glancing back down at Salvador's face, she was ushered out by Kate along with her brother, her stepmother trying to put on a brave face for the children. "Come on, guys."

"Is Pipo okay?" Mariana asked, looking behind her shoulder at her grandfather. Kate didn't reply to her question, but rather stared down at the young girl with a glum expression, kneeling down as Mariana added. "His cup's empty. What if he's thirsty when he wakes up?"

"He doesn't need any right now. He's… really tired, so it's best if we don't disturb him, yeah?" She explained, giving her a soft smile. Mariana tried to return it, but the whole situation made it extremely hard for her to think of a reason why. Pipo was sick for months, and when Javier left, she saw how hard it was for the family to cope, especially David. She hoped that her uncle would come home soon.

Kate, having noticed Mariana's silence, just placed a hand on the child's shoulder and guided her down the hallway, gently pushing both her and Gabriel away from the closed bedroom door. In the living room, Mariana just stood there, watching as Yaya embraced Hector, the two of them standing in the kitchen area to avoid upsetting the children. Kate paused by the young girl's side, unsure what to say to make her feel better, before she too spotted the scene in the kitchen, watching with a sympathetic look in her eyes. Softly, she suggested to Mariana. "Why don't you go and play checkers with Gabe, honey?"

"Is Yaya okay?" she asked cautiously, glancing up at Kate as she noticed her question surprising the older woman.

"She's just slightly overwhelmed, that's all." She lied, guiding Mariana over to the couch where Gabe was sitting, further explaining to her stepdaughter. "Grandpa's been so sick, it's not nice to see someone you love like that."

She nodded at that. It made sense, she didn't like it whenever Gabe or her father were sick, and she could understand that Yaya was upset with how ill Pipo had been lately. With a thoughtful expression, she sat down on the couch, staring up at Kate as the woman walked away, cleaning up any mess in the living room and kitchen. David was nowhere to be seen. She turned her head and sat there while Gabe set up the checkers board, obviously affected by the situation as much as she was. The different between them however, was that Mari was able to hide her feelings better. With the pieces in place on the board, the two of them began to play silently, neither one of them wanting to talk at the moment.

The house was silent, save for the clinking of glasses as Kate cleared them away, and the quiet sobbing of Yaya as Hector continued to hug her tightly, staring off into the distance with a saddened expression on his aged face. Moving one of her pieces, she glanced outside the window, staring at the dark night sky with a worried look. Quietly, she heard Gabe pipe up. "Mari, it's your turn."

She looked back down at the board, noticing that there was a chance for her to take one of Gabe's pieces, and went for it. Gabe watched with a smile on his face, before he took the same piece she had just moved, taking it off the board with a smug look. Usually, Mari would be more determined to beat him when he gave her that look, but that night, she was content to give him the game, not really feeling up to playing all that much. Slowly, she left the game alone, jumping down from the couch as Gabe watched as he noticed his younger sister walking over to the front window.

Mari didn't know what she wanted to see when she looked out of the window. She hoped to see Javier running up the driveway, desperate to see his father and the rest of the family after being away for so long. She couldn't stop the disappointment from creeping up again when he never did, and instead stared at David's back, unsure what her father was doing out there. Beside him were cans of beer, the older man drinking one of them while sitting on the porch. Gabe appeared by her side, the young girl turning to her older brother as she whispered to him. "What's wrong with Dad?"

"I don't know. Maybe he's sad, like Yaya?" He replied, just as confused as she was.

Looking back at David, she watched as he took another swig from his beer can, before Kate called out to them from the dining room area. "Kids, come away from the window. Leave your dad be for now."

Doing as they were told, Gabe returned to the couch, not feeling up to continuing their game of checkers, fidgeting with the pieces instead. Mari, however, glanced at the hallway leading to the bedrooms, looking over to the adults to see them busy with their own things. Kate may have guided her away from the bedroom, but she knew that Pipo's cup was _still_ empty. He would need water for when he woke up and If she was quiet, she wouldn't disturb his needed rest. Deciding on what she was going to do, she walked across the living room, ignoring Gabe's stares as she walked through the open door, making her way down the hallway towards the closed door.

Once she reached it, her hand hovered over the doorknob, pausing momentarily before she finally opened the door, trying to be as quiet as possible to avoid waking Salvador up. Peeking through the crack in the door, she noticed that he was still lying in bed, completely still, and sighed in relief. Carefully, she opened the door wide enough that she could slip through, and snuck over to the bedside table where he kept his cup. She stopped, staring at the empty cup before her eyes shifted over to the old man in bed. His face was peaceful, eyes closed and hands resting on top of the quilt. Mari spared another glance at the cup, until she shuffled closer to the side of the bed, placing a tiny hand over her grandfather's with a soft smile.

His hand was freezing cold, her smile quickly falling as she retracted her own. With a quick look at his face, she turned back at his hands and softly moved them under the quilt, whispering to him when she heard him make a low groan. " _¿Estás despierto, Pipo?_ "

Another low groan was the only response he gave. With his hands under the blanket, Mari moved away from the bed, wanting him to go back to sleep, and instead picked up the cup, holding it in both hands. Glancing back at her grandfather, she smiled at him as she offered. " _Te traeré más agua, espérame_."

She started to walk towards the door, pausing when she heard rustling behind her, and turned her head to see her grandfather slowly moving from underneath the cover, the fabric nearly falling to the floor. Opening the door, she walked out of the room and, sparing a quick glance at Pipo, closed the door behind her. From down the hallway, she heard the sound of someone being smacked, when she reached the door leading into the living room, she spotted Javier holding Yaya close, David nearby as he had his back turned to his brother.

She was pleased that Javier made it all along. Seeing him there, she wanted to go over and hug him, but refrained from doing so when she noticed the reddened mark on the side of her uncle's face, her smile falling slightly as she stood in the doorway. Instead, she began to walk over to the kitchen area, eager to get her grandfather some water especially now that he was awake. Kate had moved to cleaning up the table, turning her head to Hector when he walked over to her, Mari spotting him holding a phone as he muttered to the older woman.

" _No puedo conectarme_." He explained exasperatedly, placing the phone down on the side as he added. " _Dice que no hay servicio._ "

Mariana walked past them, the adults too distracted with their problems to notice the young girl walking into the kitchen with the heavy cup in her hands. Careful not to drop it, she placed it near the sink, and looked up at the taps, having to stand on her tippy toes to reach it. Cup in hand, she placed it in the sink and ran the tap, watching the cup fill up with the clear water until it was almost full. Holding onto it tightly, she left the kitchen area and started walking back towards the hallway, pausing when she heard Hector call out to her.

"You thirsty, baby?" he asked, staring down at the small child while she turned around. "You want some juice?"

"Grandpa's cup was empty." She replied, glancing down at the full cup in her hands. Javier stared at her with a somber expression, looking back at David as the latter just sat there, avoiding her gaze and unsure what to say as both grown men stared at Yaya instead. Mariana stood there, confused as to why everyone was so upset after leaving Pipo's room, wanting to go back and give the ill man his water.

Slowly, Yaya turned her head to where Mari was standing, her voice cracking slightly as she attempted to smile. "You don't have to fill his cup up anymore, baby. Grandpa is… sleeping."

"No, Yaya!" Mari protested, she was used to doing this and couldn't figure out why that day would be the exception, looking behind her into the hallway, she gave them the good news, a warm smile on her face. "Pipo's awake!"

The room fell silent. Yaya's face fell when she heard the news from her granddaughter, unable to hide the grief she was feeling anymore. Mariana stood there, her happiness that her grandfather was awake slowly turning to worry, big brown eyes scanning the room as each adult showed anything but relief. David sat there, Gabe by his side, her brother sharing her confusion as he looked up at their father. Slowly, Javier stood up, turning around to give David a quick look of uncertainty, both of them unable to understand what she just told them.

Turning his head back to stare at his niece, Javier walked over to her, kneeling down while she held tightly onto the cup, fearful that she would drop it. Softly, he asked her, eager to clear up any misunderstandings. "Mija… are you sure grandpa's awake? Maybe, you just thought he was?"

"No, I saw him!" She rejected, shaking her head with a frown before she turned around, walking into the hallway. "Come on, I'll show you!"

She continued to walk down the hallway, not even bothering to wait for the others to follow after her. The sound of footsteps behind her echoed through the hall, the young girl holding the cup tightly as she opened the door, pushing it slowly with a bright smile on her face, spotting Pipo standing by the uncovered window. The door creaked when she pushed it further open, walking in with the cup as she placed it down gently on the table, turning to stare at the old man's back. "I'm back, Pipo, I brought you some water."

He didn't move. Her smile faltered, the young child wondering if something was wrong with him, and moved to the bottom of the bed while the others finally came into the room. Before she could approach her grandfather, Hector moved to grab her arm, pulling her away from the bed and into David's arms, her father putting her behind him and Javi. The worry slowly turned to fear, and she could only watch as Hector approached the other man, placing a hand on his shoulder as he muttered. " _¿C-Cómo es esto posible…?_ "

Salvador turned his head, a low growl in his throat before he violently pushed Hector into the closet, breaking the doors as Mariana watched with terror on her face. Screams of fright came from the panicked man, Javier and David rushing to his aid while the young girl backed away, gasping loudly as she watched her uncle and father tried to pull her grandfather off, the three of them backing into the bed frame. She didn't want to watch anymore, and so ran past her brother, back down the hallway, leaving the loud noises of fighting behind her as she ran into the living room. The sight of the young girl terrified, and the sounds of fighting coming from the bedroom, alerted Kate and her grandmother.

She tried to speak, but the fear gripped at her tightly and her breathing quickened, tears pricking in the corner of her eyes. Yaya glanced up at the hallway, walking past the young child as she made her way to the bedroom to see for herself, Kate immediately following after her, leaving Mariana alone while the child covered her ears, running to the dining room table and crawling underneath. Sitting there, with her knees held up to her chest and her hands pressed tightly against her ears, terrified of what was going on in the bedroom.

Even with her hands over her ears, she could hear a scream coming from the other room, her eyes opening wide as she peered from underneath the table, staring at the door leading into the hallway with her breath held. She was terrified, confused as to why Salvador attacked Hector like that, and she knelt there frightened as shouting came from the room, a sickening thwack following the shouts as everything quietened down. With the loud noises no longer there, she came out from the table slightly, shocked when she saw David rushing out of the hallway, glancing around frantically before he spotted her halfway out from under the table.

"Mari, we gotta go, _now_!" he explained, kneeling down in front of her as she backed away slightly. "Yaya's hurt, mija."

She stared up at his worried face, quickly glancing over at the hallway door as she stammered. "P-Pipo…?"

David didn't respond to that name, sorrow clear on his face as he sighed deeply, rather picking up his daughter as he grabbed the keys. Moving to the door, he opened it quickly, rushing over to the truck as he explained to his daughter. "Uncle Javi and Kate are gonna take you and your brother to the hospital while I drive-"

"No, no! I wanna stay with Yaya!" She begged, struggling when David tried to put her in the van seat. She didn't want to leave him, nor did she want to leave her grandma, but her actions only seemed to frustrate David as he tried to put her in the seat, the man sighing loudly.

" _Carajo, Mariana, siéntate!_ " He snapped at her. Mariana didn't listen to him, staring up at him with wide eyes as he glanced over to the door, the young girl spotting Javier rushing out the door, guiding Yaya whilst the elderly woman held a blood soaked rag to her cheek. The shock of seeing her grandmother like that stunned Mariana, the young girl escaping David's grip and running over to her uncle and grandmother.

She gasped, watching as Javier and Kate moved past her and guided the injured woman over to the other car, Gabe and Hector right behind them. David ran over to the young girl, kneeling in front of her, her voice coming out louder than she intended to as she continued to beg. "I wanna stay with Yaya!"

"Mija, just go with Uncle Javi, _please?_ " he begged, clearly at his wits end when the young girl proved stubborn. She knew it was a bad time, but she didn't understand why her father was being so adamant that she stayed with the others. She would be quiet and behave, and the thought of being away from her grandmother caused panic in the child as she shook her head. David ignored her pleas, picking her up again as he moved towards the van, only for Javier to intercept him.

"She wants to be with mamá, just take her with you. We'll all be meeting up at the hospital, I can look after her when we get there." He suggested, earning a deep frown from his brother whilst David stood there. Quickly, he growled under his breath as he rushed over to the other car, opening the back door and sitting Mariana in the back seat, making sure that the young child was strapped in before closing the door. Sitting there, she glanced up at the rearview mirror, spotting Yaya holding a cloth to her cheek with a shocked look on her face, the child watching with a worried frown.

Still staring in the mirror, Mari turned her head quickly when David got into the driver's seat, Javier appearing by the open window on her grandmother's side as he explained to his older brother. "Don't take the highway, it's blocked!"

"Alright, we'll meet you in the hospital!" David nodded, starting the car while Javier glanced at the back seat, both he and Mari sharing a concerned look before they drove away. She was terrified, peering out of the back of the car as she saw Javier standing there, getting smaller and smaller as they continued to drive down the road. With her uncle no longer in sight, she sat back down in her seat, keeping quiet like she promised and rather just stared at David.

His shoulders were tense, hands gripping the steering wheel with enough force that it turned his knuckles white, it was obvious that David was incredibly stressed from the whole situation, his face stern as he just watched the road ahead. Yaya said nothing, still in shock from the incident as she sat there, staring straight ahead while they drove. Concerned for his mother, David turned his head, keeping an eye on the road as he muttered to her, voice comforting in an attempt to help the older woman calm down. "We'll be there soon, mamá."

Mariana looked away, instead staring out of the side window at the houses passing by, wondering how long it would take for them to get to the hospital. There were people leaving their homes too, some of them panicking whilst others attempted to drive away from their houses. Unsure what was happening, it wasn't long before she heard David mutter under his breath. "Dammit, the road's backed up for miles."

Glancing between the seats, she could see the cars stuck in a jam for as far as she could see, horn blaring in the distance as the drivers tried to get others to move. They were all seemingly going down the way to the hospital, just like them, and being stuck, with his mother suffering beside him, did nothing to help David's already short temper.

"What's wrong, daddy?" She asked, looking back over at him with her hands together in her lap. He sighed in frustration as he was forced to stop the car, he turned around to give Mari a forced smile, trying his best not to worry the little girl. She tried to return it, and before David could say anything to comfort her, screaming outside caused fright to grip her tightly, glancing panicky back out of the window. The sight around them caused her heart to stop.

People were running down the street in blind panic, others stumbling after them, but they didn't really look like other people to Mari. Any unlucky person caught by them was pushed to the ground, teeth tearing into their flesh with blood staining the sidewalk, cries of pain and fear loud in the air.

David saw this too, watching the traumatic events with widened eyes, clearly horrified with what was happening. When some of the things came closer to the car, he took off down one of the side roads, trying his best to find some way through the blockages. Cars were left in driveways, people having either ran from their homes or locked themselves in whilst others died in the street. The speed they picked up down the street forced Mari into her seat, the houses and street lamps passing by faster the longer they drove, and the screams from behind them died down.

When she tried to peer out the window again, just to see where they were, she heard David softly order her. "Stay away from the windows, mija! Just keep looking forward. We're almost there."

"What were those _things_!?" she suddenly asked, recalling the monsters. "They looked just like Pipo."

"I… I don't know. Just stay away from the windows." He revealed, his voice quiet as it was obvious he didn't know what was going on either. Mariana did what he asked, sitting there and staring at the seat in front of her, never moving her eyes even when she heard crying in the distance, and people yelling at others to run. Slowly, it started getting too much for the child to handle, and she shut her eyes tightly whilst covering her ears, desperate to get some peace from the panic occurring outside the car.

She thought about Javier and her family, wondering where they were, wanting them to be with her to provide the young child comfort. Uncle Javier always knew what to say. With her eyes shut, she couldn't see where the car was going, but felt David taking a turn as her body leaned to the left, the young girl repeating David's orders in her head. _Stay away from the windows._ She didn't know how long they were driving for, and when she opened her eyes to look around, she noticed that David was glancing over at Yaya with a concerned look on his face.

"Mamá…" He started, staring at the wound on his mother's face. Mariana was unable to see it, the young girl leaning to peer between the seats to check on her grandmother, and noticed someone wandering in the middle of the road, signalling them down for help whilst holding a bleeding arm. David, distracted by his injured mother beside him, never saw the person in the road and slammed straight into them.

The shock of the hit caused the older man to shift his gaze to the road, a surprised yell coming from him whilst the car veered across the road. She screamed in fright, David trying to control the car, the person smacking their head against the windshield and causing a large crack, before they fell off the bonnet and laid there in the road. Despite his efforts, he couldn't stop the car from colliding into one of the street lights. The damaged windshield shattered with the impact, sending small shards of glass across the dashboard, Mariana covering her face to protect herself.

Everything came to an abrupt stop. The loud screech of the wheels against tarmac and the crash were loud in her ears, the force pushing her forward whilst the seat belt prevented the little girl from being flung into the seat in front of her. Rather, it cut deep into her stomach, causing her some pain and discomfort. Sitting there, breathing heavily with tears streaming down her face, Mari sat there in a panic whilst David lifted his head from the steering wheel, discoordinated from the crash. Slowly, he turned around to check on the weeping child, holding his head in pain as he muttered to her. "Mari, ar-are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah. It hurts, though." She complained, feeling a pain in her stomach from where the seatbelt.

"It's alright, baby, we're alright." David tried to comfort her, wincing in pain as he turned to Yaya, Mariana noticing that the older woman wasn't moving. With a shaky hand, he shook his mother's shoulder, voice a harsh whisper as he tried to rouse her. "Mamá… Mamá, wake up!"

His worried face fell more when Yaya didn't respond to his pleads, the realisation hitting him as he removed his hand, hand balling up into a fist whilst Mariana sat there, unable to understand what was happening. Glancing over at her grieving father, she begged for someone to tell her what was going on. "W-What's wrong with her?!"

David didn't respond to that. Just like with Pipo before, he kept quiet, and noticing that some of the monsters were coming towards the car, he knew that it was just him and Mariana there on out. Undoing his seatbelt, he opened the driver's door wide and jumped out, rushing over to the other side whilst Mariana stared at him, glancing over at people stumbling towards them with terror gripping at her. Suddenly, the door beside her was pulled open, and David was leaning over her undoing the seatbelt, picking her up. With the child in his arms, he backed away from the car, freezing when he saw Yaya moving in the seat.

Rushing towards the door, he tried to open it as he gasped in relief. "Mamá, thank god, I thought you were-!"

A loud growl caused him to jump back, holding Mariana tightly whilst she stared down at Yaya with widened eyes. Those same blank eyes, just like Pipo's back in the house, stared up at them as hands slammed against the window, the person trapped inside desperate to get out. She couldn't look anymore, David's hand resting on the back of her head as he backed away from the car, staring down at his mother with a distraught look. The other undead kept coming down the street, the older man turning to face them as he moved back, desperate to put some distance between them and the monsters.

Mariana could only give her grandmother one more glance before David turned on his heel and ran up the street, leaving the destroyed car behind. She held onto his shirt tightly, face pressed tightly into his shoulder as she watched the figures and the car get smaller the further they ran for, until it was completely out of sight. His breathing quickened, lifting her up again to get a better grip on her striped shirt, before pausing for a moment to catch his breath. Panting heavily, he looked around, Mariana unsure where they were as she looked around, sniffling into David's shoulder as he patted her back softly.

"Shhh, mija. We'll be okay." He whispered to her, starting to walk again whilst she just pushed her face into his shoulder, remaining quiet as her father made his way down the quiet street. He glanced around, trying to figure out where he was, and unable to backtrack with the undead behind them, and so they kept walking for as long as they could. Slowly, she moved her head so she was lying her head sideways against his shoulder, staring at the seemingly empty houses that they passed by.

"Where're we going?" She asked quietly, trying to ignore the thought of her grandmother still stuck inside the car, the image fresh in her mind. David continued walking, the sound of his footsteps the only noise coming from him as he appeared thoughtful. She waited patiently for his answer, but she was scared, terrified of what would happen from then on.

After a few moments of walking, she listened as he sighed deeply, voice quiet as he confessed to the younger child. "I don't know, but we're gonna try and get back to the house, okay? Back to Uncle Javi and the others, we'll wait for them there. We'll be safer together, mija."

"Okay…" She replied, knowing that David would try his best to get them back home. However, the further they walked, the more obstacles were put in their path, and soon David and Mariana found themselves being pushed further and further away from their home. If they were going back home, it wouldn't be anytime soon.


	2. An Unknown Face

When Mariana woke up, the first thing she felt was warm arms wrapped around her, her head gently rising and falling as her ear was pressed against David's chest, the young girl listening to his slow heartbeats. Eyes opened softly, almost expecting to see her bedroom around her, and when she saw white tiled walls instead, she was both confused and disappointed. After a few moments, the sleepy haze lifted and she could remember last night. It was late in the night when David finally stopped running, finding an abandoned rest stop in a park to hide from the monsters. Mari was scared, unable to comprehend anything after seeing Yaya coming back just like Pipo did, and that night was full of nightmares and moments were she woke up, only to find herself unable to go back to sleep.

The doors of the toilet stalls were heavily graffitied, some of the words confusing to Mariana as she stared at them, sitting calmly in David's arms as he continued to sleep, soft snores coming from her father. The heat generated from him wrapped around her, protecting the child from the cold that circulated in the small building they were in, the wind able to come in from the broken window up above the sinks. Carefully, she peeled the arms from around her, trying her best not wake David up.

However, her movements caused him to stir, the child pausing when she stared up at his face, noticing brown eyes peering down at her, the confusion and panic receding as soon as he saw his daughter by him. With a deep inhale, he lifted up from his leaning position against the wall, grunting in discomfort while a hand pressed against his lower back. Mariana sat there, listening as he finally muttered to her. "You sleep well, mija?"

"No… It's really cold in here." She complained, her thin striped shirt doing little to keep the cold out. He frowned at that, sympathetic when the wind blowing through caused her to shiver, her hands rubbing up her arms in an attempt to get warm. Slowly, he lifted himself off the floor, pausing for a moment when his back clicked into place, a slight pained expression clear on his face. With a deep sigh, he straightened himself out and stood there, staring down at Mariana as she too got to her feet.

Straightening out her shirt, she glanced up at him and asked quietly. "Are we going home soon?"

"Yeah, we're gonna go home." David nodded, looking up at the door leading back outside. She stood there, taking his words to heart as the excitement of returning home made her smile, the young child eager to reunite with the rest of her family. When David looked out of the door, he hesitated, keeping the door slightly ajar as he just stared, and so Mariana walked over to his side. Peeking out, she could see smoke rolling high into the sky in the distance. Surprised, she said nothing when David opened the door more, slipping out of the rest stop and staring off into the distance, some of the taller building clear over the trees.

Following after him, she closed the door behind her before turning back around, glancing at the playground nearby, the wind pushing some of the swings around ominously. She didn't feel safe there. Quickly, she grabbed hold of David's hand, her fingers rubbing against the wedding ring on his finger. Noticing her small hand wrapping around his, he enclosed his fingers around it, smiling down at his daughter as he muttered. "Come on. Let's go home."

She smiled warmly, and started to walk back the way they came last night. The gravel path they walked on crunched under their shoes, the child finding it hard to keep up with her father's faster pace, though she tried to keep up silently. The cold wind of the night had died down, rather the sun shining up above them and washing the two in a warmth, the few clouds in the sky rolling by slowly. Eventually, her legs started getting tired and she slowed down, unable to keep up when David paused, glancing off into the distant city before picking Mariana up, holding onto her tightly as they carried on walking in silence, neither sure exactly what was happening in their home.

Watching from his arms, she stared at the houses surrounding the park, the duo leaving the isolated woodlands behind as they made their way along the empty road. Both of them were tense with how quiet everywhere was, Mariana staring at a car that they passed, noticing a long scratch from the front to the rear, almost like the vehicle scraped across something before stopping. They didn't stop, they couldn't. With Yaya having died, David had to get home to give his family the grim news, unsure how Javier would take losing both of their parents in just one night. Mariana missed her dearly, wanting her grandmother to be there with her, keeping the child calm even with the city around them falling to ruins.

"Where is everyone?" she quietly asked, fearful that even her voice would attract more of those things.

"They probably gone to the hospital. A lot of people got hurt last night, it might just be riots." He explained, trying to find any logical explanation as to what was happening.

As they kept walking, Mariana furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, staring up at her father's face while she asked him. "Riots?"

"Yeah. Riots are like, when you have a group of people, and they destroy things because they're angry." He elaborated, glancing down at the young girl when he saw her confusion, quickly adding to the explanation. "Do you remember when Gabe got mad at you and ripped your teddy's arm off because you wouldn't let him play with it?"

Nodding, she recalled that incident. The teddy was hers, given to her by their mother, and Gabe wanted to play with it, considering Mariana was busy with something else. She didn't care. The toy was hers, and Gabe had other things to play with, and so when he tried to take it, she grabbed the other arm, and the result was a teddy bear with one less arm. Quietly, she replied. "Yeah. You made Gabe apologize."

"Well, sometimes people do that when they're not happy with something, or they're scared. People get hurt during riots, though." He finished, pausing when he saw the smoke getting closer. Mariana saw it too, and when her eyes fell down the long road, she felt fear grip at her when she noticed a horde of people stumbling through the streets. She was not the only one to see them, David's hand gripping onto her shirt tighter when he noticed them too. Turning to her, he urged her to keep quiet, and when she glanced back at the large group, he went down a different street in an attempt to outmaneuver them.

With him briskly walking down the street, she kept an eye out for any of the monsters coming, and when she saw none, she whispered to her dad. "Is this the way home?"

Silence was her only reply. Glancing up at him, she noticed that his face had fallen glum, worry gnawing at her insides as she tried to repeat herself. "Daddy?"

"Shhh, mija. We have to be quiet." He hushed. She did what she was told, keeping quiet as they walked towards the end of the street, but she was upset with the lack of answers given to her. She wanted to know if they were going home, and that doubt in his face and voice didn't bode well for that likelihood. David walked softly, slowing down when they reached a junction before stopping altogether, peering down the road to see that more of those monsters were there, some of them just sitting on the ground where evidence of a car crash lied scattered across the tarmac.

With a grimace, he turned to go down another street. However, some of the undead were lying on the ground that way, one of them growling loudly as it noticed the living. Frightened, Mariana glanced back at the larger group, noticing some of them moving down the street in their direction. A small whimper came from her, the young child gripping tightly on her father's flannel shirt as he backed away, one of the walkers dragging themselves across the floor to get to them, legs bent in unnatural ways that made her sick to the stomach. With danger coming from both front and back, he glanced around for any escape, Mari just staring into the blank eyes with fear gripping at her.

Suddenly, David made a run for one of the buildings, Mariana glancing over his shoulder as they reached the door, hand jiggling the doorknob as the door finally opened, David sighing in relief as he pushed the door open. Inside, she noticed that they were inside someone else's home, her father placing her down on the ground as he slammed the door shut, locking it to stop the undead outside from getting in. When she was about to say something, heavy thudding could be heard on the door, the thing vibrating as she jumped back in fright, hands shooting up to cover her mouth and prevent her from yelling out.

Backing away from the door, she watched with wide eyes as David put himself between her and the door, his hand held out in front of her, the gesture him trying to signal for ehr to keep quiet. She did so, her eyes shifting from the older man to the door, and soon they could hear gunshots in the background. David heard them as well, moving over to the window whilst Mariana stood there, the fear slowly slipping away when the thudding against the door ceased, yet there was still some gripping at her stomach, the feeling that she was going to be sick almost overwhelming.

The gunshots grew quieter in the distance, David glaring out of the window for a few minutes before his shoulders lowered, the tension in his body disappearing as he turned his head to Mariana. She could only look up at him, the situation upsetting her as she sniffed, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt while the older man walked over to her. Kneeling in front of her, he pulled her close into a tight hug, his large hand rubbing her back in an attempt to soothe her, calm words whispered. "It's okay. The things are gone now."

"What are they?" she asked, laying her head against his shoulder as she frowned. "A-Are they people? Like us?"

David froze when she asked that, his shoulders tense again, and when he moved Mariana back again, she could see the doubt and uncertainty in his eyes again. Quietly, he confessed. "I don't know what they are, but I know that they aren't people. Not anymore."

"So, they're monsters?" she questioned, trying to understand what her father was telling her. "Like in the books mom always read to me, right?"

"Yeah, they're like monsters but…" David paused, appearing serious as his eyes fell down to the ground. Standing there, she watched as he breathed deeply and looked back up at her, continuing his explanation. "You have to understand this, Mari. These things aren't like the monsters in your books. They are really dangerous. Do you understand?"

Scared of his serious tone, she nodded softly, glancing over at the door nervously as she asked him. "Pipo was a monster, wasn't he?"

"Yeah… he was." He revealed, the sorrow over his father's passing evident while Mariana frowned deeply, unsure how to feel with the knowledge that her beloved grandfather was one of those things. Looking away, she stared at the photo left on a small table in the living room, listening as David added quietly. "We'll wait here until it's safe, and then we gotta keep moving."

"Okay…" she replied, moving away from David and rather sat down on the couch. Pulling herself up so that her feet hung over the floor, she just put her hands on her lap and sat in silence, still staring at the photo left on the coffee table. A man and his dog stared into the camera, the animal panting whilst its owner had a beaming grin on his face, a baseball cap hiding his shaved head, and his arm clearly wrapped around the back of the animal's neck, hand ruffling the fur growing on its chest. She wondered where the owner was, and where his dog went.

David was quiet behind her, but she could hear his footsteps echoing in the room. Quickly, she listened his footsteps walking over into the kitchen area, the hard tiles causing a different sound when he walked on them compared to the hardwood. Whilst sitting there, she held her hands to her stomach when she felt it growl, the young child eager for some food. Turning her head, she noticed David searching through the cupboards in the kitchen, looking for something when he paused, grabbing a box of something and peered inside. With a smile, he glanced over at Mariana, noticing that she was watching him, and started walking over to her.

"You must be hungry, mija. I found these for you." He offered, passing the box of pop tarts over to her. Taking them, she grabbed one out of the already opened box and set it down beside her.

"Thank you." She smiled, earning a smile back from her father as he nodded. Whilst he went off to look around, she unwrapped the silver packaging around the pop tart, shoving it back in the box before eating the food. With the danger having passed, she felt the hunger return, and was thankful that David had managed to find something for her to eat. Enjoying her food in silence, she glanced behind her shoulder when she was nearly done.

Standing there with a large kitchen knife in his hand, he left the kitchen with a juice bottle in hand, planting it on the coffee table as he turned to look down at her. "I'm gonna look upstairs. Just stay down here, and if you see any of the monsters coming inside, you call for me."

She stared up at him with worry, looking over at the front door before nodding, muttering softly. "Okay."

"I won't be long. I also found some juice for you." He pointed out, planting a tender kiss on his daughter's forehead before walking back around the couch. Sitting there, she finished off the pop tart and glanced down at the box, no longer feeling hungry, and so she closed the box and placed it on the coffee table, grabbing the juice bottle instead. Slowly, she leaned back into the couch, sipping from the bottle as she looked around the room, spotting family pictures hanging on the walls, depicting the same guy with another woman and a small girl in front of them.

Saddened, she stared at the older woman, noticing the same brown hair and striking green eyes that her own mother had, and couldn't help but feel lonely in the large room, despite knowing David was only upstairs. Looking away, she decided to jump down from the couch, sparing one last look at the picture on the coffee table before walking over to the back door. On her tippy toes, she was able to see out into the back garden, and she frowned at how empty it looked, spotting an empty dog house left in the back corner of the grassy area. There was no sign of the dog anywhere.

It was too dangerous to actually go outside. So, she backed away from the window, nearly tripping over a dog bowl that was left on the floor, sending the thing scattering across the floor loudly, scaring the child as she jumped back in fright. Spotting the metallic bowl on the floor, what little dog food was left scattered across the hardwood, she calmed down slightly, only to hear David call down with a panicked tone. "Mariana, are you alright?!"

"Y-Yeah!" she called back, glancing down at the dog bowl. "I just tripped!"

Glancing up, she could see him peering over the banister, having rushed down the steps to check that she was alright. With her safe, he nodded and went back upstairs, leaving her to carry on looking around the house. Juice bottle in hand, she stepped over the bowl and dry dog food, continuing walking through the house silently as she could hear heavy footsteps above her, pausing at the bottom of the stairs. Staring up them, she noticed one of the doors open, a figure moving around that she assumed to be David, and made her way up them quietly, curious to know what her father was doing.

Slowly, she reached the top of the stairs, peeking into what she recognized to be a bedroom and seeing David standing there, staring at pictures taped to the wall. Entering the room, she looked in the direction he was looking at and spotted the drawings. They looked like the drawings that Gabe did back home, some of them showing badly drawn people and houses, others showing a little girl with a dog. She backed away from it, nearly bumping into the bed behind her as she paused, glancing up at David to see that he was holding a purple backpack. Quietly, she asked him. "What's that?"

"I found it." He replied, handing it over to her as he added. "We might need it, to carry things."

Staring down at the backpack being handed to her, she noticed a horse keyring hanging from it, and glanced back up at David as she shook her head. "It's not mine. I don't wanna steal, it's wrong."

"Mija…" He started, kneeling down in front of her as she continued to refuse the backpack, unsure why he was taking over people's belongings. With a deep sigh, he thought about the best way to explain it to her, and continued in a low voice. "I know I taught you that stealing is wrong, but we need to be able to carry stuff for when we get home, yeah? Once we find Javi and the others, we have to leave."

"And go where?" she asked, growing more nervous when David didn't answer her questions immediately. Rather, he stood up slowly, and when he offered the backpack again, she took it and slipped her arms through the straps, placing her juice bottle on the bedside table, listening as her father started to explain to her.

"We'll go anywhere but here. It's not safe for now, but hopefully, we can come back. Someday…" His voice dropped with that last word, the older man clearly trying to convince himself just as much as the little girl, but she took his words to heart regardless. No matter what happened, she would hold onto that hope that one day, she could go back home with her family, and everything will go back to normal. Until then, she would do what he asks, wanting to make things easy for him and her.

With a warm smile on his face, he guided her out of the bedroom, pushing her near the stairs whilst ordering her. "Go back downstairs. Any food or water that you can find, you put it in your bag. Okay?"

"I will." She nodded, watching David as he nodded back and moved to the bathroom, opening the door and slipping in to see if he could find anything of use. While he was busy with that, she turned back and started walking down the staircase again, holding tightly on her backpack with one hand while her other hand grabbed the banister. Reaching the bottom, she remembered the pop tarts that she left on the coffee table, walking over to the living room to start packing things up.

Slipping the backpack off, she unzipped it and peeked inside. In the bag, she could see typical school supplies; pencil case, books, pieces of paper, but none of it were what David described to her, and so she pulled it out, leaving them neatly on the table whilst packing up any food that she could find. Shoving the box in, she left the bag on the couch and walked over to the kitchen area, wondering what would be left in the room. Slowly, she opened the fridge, pleased to see that whoever left the house also left a lot of their food. The first thing she spotted was cups of pudding, a childish grin on her face as she grabbed the packet, holding them close as she ran back to her backpack and shoved them in.

Suddenly, she heard shouts coming from upstairs, loud growls accompanying it as she rushed over to the stairs. Terrified, she called up to David. "Daddy?!"

"Get the _fuck off!_ " he grunted, a dull thud causing Mariana to jump as she neared the stares, freezing when she spotted David fighting off a walker at the top of it. Quickly, she backed away, unsure what to do in the situation. Fear gripped her, and she could only cry in fright when the walker pushed David more, the older man stumbling at the top of the stairs and losing his footing, tumbling down it with the walker being dragged with him. His yells of pain caused Mariana to cover her mouth in shock, standing there as David reached the bottom of the stairs, smacking his head off the hardwood floor.

Dazed, and the force of the fall causing the bloodstained knife to be thrown from his hand, he was pinned under the growling monster that sat on top of him, hands holding the thing's shoulders to keep its gnashing teeth from sinking into his flesh. Panicked eyes glanced over at the knife on the floor, before he looked up at his daughter standing there, her own widened eyes catching his as he shouted at her. "Mariana, the knife!"

She looked down at the weapon, running over to pick it up off the ground, but when she glanced back up at the walker attacking her father, she froze. She hadn't been that close to one of the monsters, and seeing its blank eyes glance up at her as it clawed at David's shoulders, she backed away with the knife clutched tightly in her hands. David moved one of his hands from its shoulder to under its jaw, glancing back at Mariana as all she could do was watch. She wanted to move, but it was like the fear's grip on her immobilises her.

Quickly, the front door slammed open, Mariana looking at the person who came in with a shocked expression on her face. Distracted with the walker, David couldn't see who came to his rescue, only grunting loudly as he tried to push the thing off him. A loud bang rang through the air, the bullet piercing the walker's head and causing its blood to splatter down on the older man's face, a surprised look in his eyes, his saviour rushing to his side and pulling the dead weight from on top of him. Throwing it to the floor, Mariana stood there with heavy breathing whilst David sat up.

His arm moved to wipe some of the blood off of his face, glancing up as he noticed the young girl backing away slightly, her eyes unable to move from the bleeding corpse on the floor, her feet moving away from the growing pool of blood. Quickly, he jumped to his feet and moved to in front of her, holding her tightly as she wept into his shirt, the child dropping the knife as the clattering of the weapon against the wooden floor echoed in the air. His hand rubbed against her back, soothing the child as he muttered. " _Estoy bien_. _Shhh, ya pasó_."

"I-I…. I…" she tried to speak, only for the words to die in her throat and her tear filled eyes to closed tightly, her face moving so that it was pressed into his shoulder. He said nothing in response, just holding her close until she calmed down enough, her breathing slowing down and her heart rate no longer pounding in her ears.

From behind them, she could hear a feminine voice call out, concern laced in the words. "Hey, you guys alright?"

David released his daughter from his hold, allowing her to back off slightly as he checked to make sure she had no injuries, and only when she appeared fine did they turn back around to greet their unknown saviour. Mariana was surprised when she got a good look at them. A short-statured woman stood there, with her head neatly shaved and a long scar running across the top, a smoking gun held in one of her gloved hands. The woman glanced down at the walker, somewhat unnerved with its unmoving eyes as David replied. "Yeah. Thanks, for helping out."

"It's not a problem." She smiled, though a deep frown quickly replaced it when she glanced behind her shoulder, Mariana and David able to hear growls as the woman cursed under her breath. Quickly, she closed the door and locked it, turning back to David as she explained. "We ain't outta the woods yet. You might wanna find something to block the door before these smelly fuckers break it down!"

"What about that?" Mariana pointed out, noticing the large bookshelf by the front door.

David and the woman glanced up at it, the latter nodding in agreement as she muttered. "Yeah, that'll work."

Rushing over to it, the older man started pushing the heavy wooden object, grunting with the effort while the woman moved from in front of the door, helping him in pushing it. Soon, the bookshelf tipped over and collapsed in front of the door, preventing any of the walkers outside from breaking in. With the danger out of the way, David placed his hands on his hips and stared down at the fallen bookshelf, the woman walking over to Mariana as she kneeled, the young girl nervously holding her hands together as the former asked her. "You alright?"

"N-No. I'm scared." She confessed, finally able to meet their saviour's eyes as she quickly asked the grown woman. "Did you see the monsters, too?"

"Yeah, I did. It's alright to be scared, kid. I gotta admit that those things scare me too." She replied, flashing the little girl a smile that she returned, somehow feeling safer when in the mysterious person's presence. She did save them.

"So," David started, turning around to face both Mariana and the woman as he continued. "Who are you? How did you even find us here?"

"I was with my squad, trying to find people who couldn't leave the city last night. We were trying to make a safe zone just outside the city, but…" she paused, grief clear on her face as she sighed deeply. "It didn't work out. I came back, heard you and your little girl screaming in the house, and thought I'd come and investigate. Good thing I did, huh?"

"Yeah… I guess it is." He agreed, walking over to her as he offered his hand, the woman appearing surprised for a moment with the gesture, before grabbing his hand and shaking it, offering him a smile while he introduced himself. "I'm David, and that's my daughter, Mariana."

Releasing his hand, she turned back to look at Mariana, her smile growing tender as she stared at the child, before quickly turning back to David. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet both of you. I'm Ava."


	3. No Home Left

David didn't know how long had passed with the three of them stuck in the house. Sitting on the couch, an arm wrapped around Mariana and holding her close, he stared at the blocked front door with a deep frown. Ava kept herself busy with searching the house, having took the child's bag and started filling it with things they needed. Food, bottles, anything that they would need she just threw in there, occasionally glancing over at the other two sitting down with a neutral expression, lips pressed into a thin line as she thought about something. The silence used to be the thing he hated the most, but without the banging on the door, he embraced it, rather enjoying his child's presence beside him.

Instead, he could only hear Ava's footsteps as she walked around behind him, the rustling and cupboards being opened following after she stopped walking, before the cycle repeated itself. Honestly, he didn't know what to think of her. She saved his life, and Mariana's, so he was deeply grateful for her timely arrival. The thought of leaving the young girl with that thing was almost too much. So, he focused once again on the sounds in the kitchen. Slowly, he glanced down at his daughter, noticing that her head was leaning against his chest, small hands grasping tightly on his shirt.

Napping soundly, he felt concern eating away at him. For now, she looked peaceful, but he didn't know how the attack before was affecting her. Softly, he heard Ava walk over to the back of the couch, her footsteps careful to avoid stirring the child, and after a few moments of her standing there, she finally whispered to him. "How's she doing?"

"She's just tired, that's all." He replied, shifting his sights from Mariana's peaceful face to Ava, noticing her tender gaze as she stared down at the child. "You done looking around?"

"Yeah. Looks like these guys didn't have the chance to escape…" She muttered, turning her head to glance over at the corpse at the bottom of the stairs. David followed her stares, flashes of the fight appearing in the back of his mind. The stench of the thing being so close to him almost made the grown man retch, and even with time to calm down, his heart still hammered in his chest after the incident. Worst of all, he couldn't get Mariana's frightened face out of his head. He didn't blame her. She was terrified, and he wouldn't lie, he felt the same way.

No one knew how Javier and Kate were dealing with the dangers. Just like Mariana, Gabe must have been just as scared, wondering where his father and sister had gone, and that only made David more determined to get home. Back to his family. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Ava moving around the couch, taking a seat at the end with a deep sigh, her hand hovering over her eyes as she appeared thoughtful. With her sitting there in silence, he decided to use the time they had to get information about what was going on, his voice stern as he spoke up.

"So, if you were with the military, you know what's going on out there." He pointed out. Ava lowered her hand, resting it on the arm of the couch whilst glancing over at the older man, the dog tags around her neck something that he noticed first. His own was left with his son, given to Gabe before his final tour in the army.

"I'm gonna be honest with you, David." She started, appearing serious as her looks caused his stomach to twist in worry. "I have no idea what's going on. The army's doing its best, but I'm worried we're fighting a losing battle. If anything, this entire city is compromised, so when we get an opening, we gotta leave."

"I can't. My family's still here, my brother, my wife, even my son, they're likely waiting back at our house for us." He rejected, unwilling to abandon his family to the walkers. His refusal to follow her plan caused Ava to frown, but she didn't snap at him for risking their safety, rather she glanced down at the sleeping Mariana, eyes softening from a stern glare.

"Where's your house?" she asked, still staring at the child while adding. "You know how to get there from here, right?"

"Yeah. It's a bit of a distance, but we should be alright if we're careful." He nodded.

Ava said nothing to that, rather looking away with a small frown, focusing on the photograph on the coffee table. The silence filled the space once more, both of the adults just sitting there as the little girl in his arms stirred, eyebrows scrunching as her movements alerted David and Ava. The former stared down at her, noticing that she was not actually awake, rather her hold on his shirt tightening whilst she let out a heart wrenching whimper. Gently, he held her closer, rubbing her upper arm as he muttered comforting words to her. They had some effect on her, Mariana quieting down and appearing peaceful again.

"Poor kid." He heard Ava mumble, glancing up at her with a concerned expression. "She must have been shook up by that thing before."

"I'm worried for her, and if what you said is true… I don't know what to do to protect her." He confessed, keeping his daughter close to him.

"You're doing pretty good so far." She complimented, offering the worried man a warming smile in hopes that it would calm his thoughts down. It somewhat worked, David returning the smile before it fell back into a frown. Concerned, Ava looked over at the blocked door, listening carefully for any indication that the undead were still outside, and when she heard nothing, she turned back to the other adult. "When you find your family, what's your plan?"

"Getting outta here. As long as they're safe, that's all I care about. Maybe we find somewhere that's safe and just… wait this thing out?" He explained, realising that he was unsure what they would do once he reunited with his family. He didn't know where they would go, or if anywhere was safe anymore. His city was suffering from this problem, and he could make an educated guess that other cities were as well.

His grim face caused Ava to stare at him with concern clear on her face, her eyebrows slightly furrowing as she shrugged. "I don't know about other cities. Maybe they're not as bad as here."

"Maybe you're right..." He conceded, trying to ignore the smell coming from the corpse. He thought about moving it, but with the front door blocked, and the back door locked with neither of them having the key, they would just have to suffer until they had the opportunity to slip out. With a deep sigh, he rested his leg on his other leg, fidgeting slightly when he felt Mariana's elbow poke him uncomfortably in the ribs, though he didn't dare move the child in fear that it would disturb her.

Finding a more comfortable position, he settled back down into the couch and listened as Ava assured him. "It's pretty quiet outside. We better get moving now, before nightfall comes. I don't wanna run into any of those things when it gets dark."

He nodded in agreement, turning his attention to Mariana while Ava got ready to head out. Gently, he shook her shoulder, sitting upwards with his hands pushing the child up from leaning against him. The movement stirred her from her nap, eyes slowly opening as she glanced around, appearing confused for a few moment while David softly explained to her, voice low and soft. "Wake up, mija. We're leaving now."

"Where are we going?" She murmured, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand whilst yawning.

"Home. We have to leave before it gets too dark, okay?" he responded, standing up from the couch after she nodded her head in response. Allowing her to get rid of the sleepy haze, he turned around to Ava, noticing the woman shoving her pistol in a holster attached to her waist, back to him as she walked over to the spot where Mariana dropped the knife before. Quickly, she picked it up, holding the weapon tightly as she turned around to the other adult, handing it over to him.

"You're gonna need something to defend yourself with." She urged, keeping her hand up until David took the knife from it, before allowing it to fall back down to her side. Glad that at least he was able to defend himself and Mariana, she turned her attention to the fallen bookcase, walking briskly over to it as Ava added. "Help me move this."

Obeying, he followed after her, both of them reaching the bookcase and kneeling down. Slipping his hands underneath it, David waited for Ava to grab the other end before attempting to lift it, straining from the sheer weight of the object. Slowly, it lifted up from the ground, the books and other things that once decorated the shelves having fallen into a heap on the floor, a glass statue having smashed into tiny shards. With the bookcase finally upright again, Ava panted softly, wasting no time as she pushed her back against the side of it, able to push it slightly before David joined in, hands gripping the smooth wood while he pulled.

The sound of wood scraping against wood was loud in the room, but soon they managed to move it out from in front of the door. After that was done, he turned around to see Mariana walking up to them, holding the backpack that Ava set down before. He knelt down, staring into her doe-like eyes as he instructed her. "When we leave the house, be alert to your surroundings. Don't make too much noise and stay close to us, alright?"

She nodded in response, and smiled warmly when he stood up, taking hold of her hand as he added. "I'll protect you."

"We should get moving." Ava pointed out, waiting for David to turn back to her before she opened the door. Half expecting the undead to be waiting just outside the door for them, his grip on Mariana's hand tightened, the older man worried when he felt her return the gesture, the child staring outside nervously. However, the coast was clear. Sighing softly in relief, he followed after Ava as she exited the house, the group leaving the house behind them and carrying on down the road.

The walkers that trapped him before were no longer there, likely drawn away by the gunfire. Instead, the streets were silent, a breeze blowing through that cooled his exposed skin, and cars littering the road, abandoned by their occupants or destroyed beyond any use. He avoided them, cautious in case there were any of the walkers left behind in the vehicles, or any that were hiding underneath, ready to snatch any ankles passing by. The silence put them all on edge, Ava taking lead as she held tightly onto her pistol, ready for any danger that would spring out on them. While she stared ahead, he kept an eye out on the side streets that they passed, knowing that, if they were careless, the dead would be able to surprise them like before.

"So, if you came with a squad, where are they?" David asked, glancing over at Ava's back as he noticed her shoulders tense, wondering what had happened to her before she came across them.

She didn't reply immediately, rather keeping her sights ahead and staying on the lookout for any danger. After a minute passed, he wondered if he had brought up some painful memories, and with them not with her, he could only fear the worst for them. Those fears were confirmed when she finally revealed. "We got surrounded by those things trying to search for people. I managed to get out, but I don't know what happened to the others. I just pray they got lucky, too."

"Maybe we can find your friends again?" Mariana suggested, keeping her voice low in fear of attracting the walkers to them.

Ava paused, standing with her back to the other two survivors as David stopped too, staring at her with a deep frown. Slowly, she turned to face them, a saddened smile on her face while staring down at the child, voice gentle when she replied. "I don't think we're gonna find them again."

"Why not?" She pressed, appearing confused with the older woman. "We should try, right?"

" _Mariana._ " David scolded, shaking his head when she glanced up at him. With his tone of voice and gestures, she appeared shocked and looked over at Ava again, that shock turning to guilt when she noticed Ava staring off into the distance. She instead fell silent once more, following after the grown ups as they resumed walking down the street.

However, Ava slowed down, rather allowing David to take the lead instead, and began following him as he led them to his home. He only spared her a glance, knowing that after the painful conversation, she would likely not want to talk that much. So, they kept walking in silence. Mariana kept quiet, glancing around nervously while her hand kept tight hold of David's, almost like she was afraid that they would be separated, and when he looked down at her, he noticed that she was walking close to him, nearly hiding behind her father. When she glanced up at him, she noticed his stares, and all he could do to make her feel better was offer a small smile, pleased when she returned it.

The skies above were slowly losing daylight, the sun having moved to behind the buildings towering over them, and the streets were engulfed by their shadows. The silence and the winds picking up caused the hairs on the back of David's neck to raise, his guts twisting painfully as that familiar tinge of fear hit him, the unknown in the streets in front of them worrying him more than anything did in his life. Even in the army, with bullets being fired at him, he at least knew what he was fighting. With the undead flooding the streets, he didn't know what they were or how to fight them. He was powerless to stop it.

In response to his fear, his hand tightened around the handle of the large kitchen knife. The sun kept dipping behind the buildings, the shadows growing longer and longer, as well as the skies darkening into night time. He didn't feel right about staying in the streets after dark, and he was certain that Ava felt the same, noticing the older woman turning to him and confessing. "It's getting pretty dark. How much longer until we reach your house?"

"It's still a while to go." He sighed, looking around as he quickly suggested. "We should find somewhere to hole up for the ni-"

"Ava?" An unknown voice called out, the name laced with shock and pain that caused the small group to turn around, staring off in the direction of the voice while David moved Mariana further behind him. Without thinking about it, Ava aimed her pistol at the figure walking towards them, but after a few moments she lowered it with a surprised expression on her face.

"Jonas?" She responded, keeping the pistol in hand as David looked at the man approaching them properly. Taller than the grown woman, with his head neatly shaved and short stubble growing along his jawline and chin, he looked fairly young. His army uniform caused David to calm down slightly, his grip on the knife loosening as he just stood there, watching as Ava brought Jonas into a tight hug.

"I thought those things caught you!" She gasped, releasing him from her grip when she glanced down, backing away so that David was able to see that Jonas was clutching his side, blood staining his clothes and hand. Shocked, he stared at the injury as Ava pointed out. "You're bleeding. What happened? Where's everyone else?"

Her questions only caused Jonas to frown deeply, his eyes falling down to the ground as he muttered. "They're… They're gone, Ava."

"Aw, shit…" She cursed, turning her back to them for a moment, crossing her arms while appearing sorrowful. David didn't say anything, rather allowing the two to converse and instead keeping an eye out for any danger. After a few moments, she turned back around and asked the injured soldier. "The undead got them, didn't they?"

"After you managed to escape, they pushed us into one of those apartment buildings. Only Alex and I managed to get through… they pulled Carter back through the door and… Jesus." Jonas tried to explain, shaking his head while he recalled the horrific incident to Ava. She turned her head back to him, offering a look of sympathy as she too mourned their friends' passings, and listened with a deep frown as he finished. "Alex got separated from me when we made a run for it."

"What happened to you?" David suddenly asked, growing uneasy as he continued to stare at the large blood stain on Jonas' shirt. The soldier seemed surprised with his sudden question, raising an eyebrow before he glanced down at his own injury, moving his hand away as he winced in pain.

"Ah, that." He started, looking back up at David while Ava moved closer to his side, a nervous smile on his face as he elaborated on what happened. "I got pinned under one of the _walkers_ after being separated from Alex. Little fucker bit me on the side, tore right through my shirt if you can believe that. I managed to kick it off, but it tore a chunk outta me. At the very least, I can treat it properly once we get somewhere safe."

"I'm helping David and his daughter get to their house. Their family is still there, so we can help you with your bite once we get there." Ava offered, staring down at his injury as she added. "It really fucked you up."

"Hey, I'm a soldier. I've had worse on the field." He joked, earning a punch to the shoulder from Ava as he chuckled deeply. David, warmed by the friendly scene before him, smiled softly at the two of them.

"We should keep moving, then. We're losing daylight fast, and we shouldn't let that wound get any worse by waiting." He ordered, starting to walk down the street again with Mariana by his side. Ava and Jonas followed after him, remaining behind the older man as they talked quietly to each other, likely catching up after spending nearly the day apart. Mariana glanced over her shoulder at them, shyly looking away when Jonas noticed her stares. Looking down at her, David just smirked as she turned back around, working up the courage to talk to the newcomer.

"Are you okay?" She asked, wincing when she looked down at the wound on Jonas' side. "That looks really painful."

"It hurts a bit, but I'm fine. Don't worry about it, kid." He replied, grateful that she showed some concern for his injuries, before quickly adding. "So, what's your name?"

"Mariana." The little girl revealed, smiling softly as she gained the confidence to keep talking with the grown man.

"Mariana, that's a cool name." Jonas complimented, flashing a grin at her before he shifted his gaze to David, his voice low as he called out to the other male survivor. "What about you?"

"I'm David." He answered, keeping his sights ahead in case any of the undead appeared. "You're in the same squad as Ava, then?"

"Yup, known this woman for six years now. We were in the same squad when we enlisted, and we've just sorta stuck by each other all these years. I never went into a fight without her watching my back." Jonas reminisced, the sound of his voice suggesting to David that he almost missed those years, and he honestly felt the same way. He loved his family deeply, but he felt like he belonged in the army, like he actually mattered there rather than being known as the famous baseball player's brother. In the army, he was in no one's shadow.

Jonas' voice brought him out of his thoughts when he suddenly revealed. "Did you know Ava was in the army wrestling?"

"That was only once, but it was a lot of fun." She confirmed, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips as David turned his head, raising an eyebrow in amusement when the thought of the short woman in front of him wrestling popped into his mind. The two behind him shared laughs at the memory, clearly enjoying being reunited with each other, but their happy moments would be caught short when David stopped walking, eyes narrowed as he spotted shuffling figures a far bit away from them.

"Keep quiet!" he hissed at the two behind him, sneaking over to an alleyway to avoid being spotted. Ava and Jonas followed his lead, keeping low as they glanced over at the walkers, all of them keeping still when they reached the entrance into the alleyway. Kneeling behind the wall, David peered out, keeping Mariana close to the wall with his hand still clasped around her, remaining silent as he watched the undead in front of them.

They weren't moving, rather hunched over something left in the middle of the road. Unable to see what they were doing, he didn't move when Ava appeared by his side, quietly whispering to him. "What're they doing?"

"Eating." Jonas grunted, being forced by his injury to sit down as his hand pressed against his side. Trying his best to ignore it, he looked over at Ava and David as they turned around, the former moving back to his side as he added. "That's all those fuckers do. You get caught by them, and that's how they kill you. I was lucky to escape."

"You don't seem very lucky." Ava noted, placing a hand on her friend's forehead before frowning deeply. "You're burning up. Can you stand?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." He stammered, trying to stand up when, crying out in pain, his legs gave way and he fell back down to the ground. David glanced over his shoulder, worried that the noises would attract the things feeding on the corpse down the street, and when he turned back, he saw Ava lifting up Jonas' shirt with a disgusted expression on her face. When he saw the wound, he couldn't help but wince at it.

The torn flesh clearly marked out where the teeth pierced his skin, the semi circular mark on his right side turning the skin around it purple, the blood having dried around the bitten skin. She refrained from touching it, worried that it would only hurt her friend more, and when they glanced up at his face, David was worried with how exhausted the man looked. Sweat rolled down his face, his breathing heavy as he glanced up at Ava, the fear of what was happening clear in his eyes. "What the fuck is happening to me, Ava?"

"You could've gotten an infection from your open bite wound." She suggested, letting go of his shirt as it fell back down, covering his wound again. Jonas sat there, leaning his head against the cold brick wall while Ava turned back around to David, concern for the other man clear on her face as she pressed. "We gotta get outta here. The longer we leave his bite untreated, the worse the infection will get."

"Those things are blocking the road up ahead, but we can outmaneuver them if we go down this alleyway." He explained, looking down the long passageway with a deep frown on his face, quickly adding as he glanced back at Ava. "Problem is, can he move?"

"I'm gonna have to, aren't I?" Jonas' voice shot back from behind them, a deep growl of pain following after that as the two turned around, spotting the soldier forcing himself to his feet, his fingers gripping the brick wall behind him while he gritted his teeth in pain. Ava was immediately by his side, helping him stand up properly as David and Mariana got to their feet. Sparing one last glance at the walkers around the corner, he turned back to the others and started walking down the alleyway.

All this time, Mariana had kept quiet, rather just staring ahead with fear in her eyes, and David couldn't stop the concern from seeping into his words as he whispered down to her. "How're you holding up, Mari?"

"I'm fine…" She replied, unable to meet his eyes when he frowned at the uncertainty in her voice. Slowly, he listened to the child while she confessed. "But I'm worried about Jonas. Is he gonna be okay?"

David thought about his answer to her question, unsure what to say as he glanced behind his shoulder, noticing that Jonas had his arm around Ava's shoulder, using her as a crutch to aid in his walking. He wouldn't lie, it didn't look good for the other man, but he didn't want to worry the young girl beside him either, and so he lied. "Yeah. We just gotta get him back home to help him with his bite. It's pretty painful for him."

"I have some band-aids left if he needs them." She offered, causing David to chuckle deeply at the thought of Mariana sticking bright pink and cartoon band-aids on Jonas' stomach.

Quietly, he heard Jonas call out to them from behind, a humorous tone to his voice. "Good thing you do, Mari… I just ran out."

She smiled brightly at his light take on their situation, clearly needing someone to take her mind off the dangers that were lurking just around the corner. After their short conversation, the injured man grunted in pain, finding it difficult to keep his head up as it fell down, his weight nearly crushing Ava while she struggled to keep him up. Trying to keep her voice down, she whispered harshly over to David. "David, I need a little help!"

Quickly, he rushed back to Jonas' side, sharing some of his weight to help Ava drag him along, only then noticing that he had fallen unconscious. The concern was sinking in, and his thoughts started running in the back of his mind, the other man uncertain that they would make it back to the house with Jonas in tow. It became apparent to Ava as well, her face falling grim as she piped up. "He ain't gonna make it, David."

"I don't think we should just leave him behind, though." He pointed out, glancing up at the corner in the alleyway coming up. Slowly, Ava stopped walking, forcing him to also stop with the weight pushing down on his shoulder, surprising him that she was able to carry Jonas by herself before.

"Help me put him down." She ordered, moving Jonas' arm from around her shoulders as she started placing him down against the wall, David obeying as he helped her move the body. Jonas' head fell forward when he was placed against the wall, but it wasn't long before he regained consciousness, shrunken in eyes looking up, half-closed with pain and fatigue eating away at the soldier. He looked like he was on death's door.

Backing away, David just stood there with Mariana moving to his side, watching the scene before them with wide eyes, before he held an arm out and pushed her even more behind him, unwilling to let her see what was going to happen. Ava kneeled down beside him, face stricken with grief, and remained quiet as Jonas coughed. "F-Fuck. I'm… I'm not doing so good, Ava."

"Could this be because of the bite?" David asked, turning from Jonas to Ava and noticing that she was staring at the blood patch on his shirt. "Ava?"

"Hey…" Jonas gasped, staring at Ava as she finally looked up at him, listening as he quickly glanced down the alleyway before turning back to her, on the lookout for walkers while he continued. "I don't think I'm gonna make it to the house. You guys go on without me, get back to your family, man."

"Jonas, there's undead all around us. We leave you here and you die!" Ava pointed out, following his gaze when she noticed walkers passing by the entrance into the alleyway. David noticed them too, watching as they moved on, never noticing the living at the other end of the narrow passageway, and kept Mariana close to him. It was dangerous, and he knew they didn't have time to talk these things out.

"Ava, he's right. We can't do anything else for him now." He tried to convince her, feeling terrible about leaving Jonas to this fate. However, if it meant they would survive and get back to his family, he knew that it had to be done. Jonas nodded in agreement, his pale face falling when they could hear shouting and gunshots in the distance. Ava heard them too, her head turning slightly as she appeared thoughtful, almost torn on what to do, and so David moved closer, a hand on her shoulder as he offered her his knife.

"We can't save him, but we can make this less painful for him." He muttered, moving back towards Mariana as he offered. "We'll give you some time to say goodbye."

"Thanks, David." She replied softly. Looking back at his daughter, he paused when he noticed her standing there with a saddened look in her eyes, staring at Jonas sitting against the wall with Ava readying herself to do what she needed to do. Unwilling to let the young child witness what was going to happen, David held his arm out in front of her, guiding her further down the alleyway to give the other two adults some privacy, never looking back while Mariana snuck a peek.

"What's Ava doing?" She asked, looking from the scene to David with widened eyes. He glanced down at her, waiting until they turned the corner before he stopped walking, making sure there was no danger around them before he turned his attention back to the little girl, listening as she added quietly. "Is Jonas sick? He doesn't look good."

"Yeah, he's really sick, mija. Ava's staying behind to help him." He explained, kneeling down in front of her as she looked off to the side.

Slowly, she turned back to the older man and asked in a quiet tone. "How?"

"By making sure he doesn't suffer anymore. Sometimes, it's what you gotta do." After he said those words, he heard footsteps coming up behind them and turned on his foot, feeling that moment of fear as the uncertain figure came around the corner, and when he saw that it was only Ava, that fear turned to sympathy at her sorrowful face. In her hand was his knife, the blade bloodied, the sight making him gulp loudly at the implication of what happened.

Slowly, she walked over to him and passed the weapon back, her voice low as she finally met his eyes. "We need to keep moving..."

She brushed past the taller survivor, carrying on walking while he stared at her back, calling out to her worryingly. "Ava, if you need a minute-"

"No. Let's go." She didn't stop walking. Standing with Mariana slowly taking hold of his hand, he glanced down to see the child staring off at Ava, visibly worried for the older woman as both of them continued on. None of them talked when they exited the alleyway, rather moving through the streets carefully with their eyes kept on their surroundings, unnerved with how silent everywhere had become. Recalling his times out in the city with Javier, it was strange seeing those same streets, once busy and full of people, completely deserted, only the dead roaming around.

The skies had turned pitch black by the time they arrived to the familiar streets. Only a few more streets away from his home, yet whilst he felt relieved and almost excited to be reunited with his family, that knowing feeling of dread hit him as well, knowing that he would be the one to tell Kate and Javier what happened to their mother. Guilt wormed into the back of his mind, his thoughts going back to that incident on the road, how they crashed because he was not keeping an eye like he should of. Though, knowing that Jonas deteriorated from his bite, the thought of the same thing happening to his mother made his stomach flip.

Quietly, almost missing it altogether, he caught Mariana's voice piping up. "Are we almost there, yet?"

"Almost." He responded, keeping his eyes forward as he stared at Ava. All the time they walked, she kept in front of them, her shoulders slumped and her head looking slightly downwards, and yet after her rejection last time, David said nothing, rather leaving her to grieve for her friend.

"Where did Jonas go?" Mariana suddenly asked, keeping her voice low while David tensed up.

Finally, he looked down at her, noticing that she was staring up at him with a worried expression, and after glancing over at Ava, he sighed deeply before explaining to the child beside him. "He's… gone, mija."

"I don't understand. W-What did Ava do?" She insisted, nervously.

He didn't know how to explain to her about what happened to Jonas, or what Ava had to do, and thankfully, he was able to change the subject when he noticed that the street they reached was where their house was. Pausing, he stared down the street, the streetlights flickering as the light illuminated the empty space. Cars were taken from the driveways, few being left behind in the panic. After a few moments, Ava noticed that he had stopped walking and turned back, walking towards the other adult as he revealed. "This is the street. We ain't far now."

"That's good to hear." She replied, smiling slightly as the three of them started walking up the street. Slowly however, her smile faded, and she turned to stare at David. "Hey, David?"

"Yeah?" He responded, glancing down to see Ava looking away, thinking about what to say while they kept walking.

"I just wanted to say thanks, for letting me say goodbye to Jonas. He was a good guy…" Her voice dropped with that last sentence. Smiling sadly, David just nodded in response before looking back ahead, noticing that the house was coming up. Impatient, he quickened his stride the rest of the distance from the front of the lawn, eager to return home and get his family out of this city. The van that Javier took the other night was no longer there, and while he stared at the empty driveway, he couldn't stop that gnawing feeling at the back of his mind, pushing the intrusive thoughts back as he instead shifted his gaze to the front door.

Ava paused by him, unwilling to go to the front door first and rather glanced around nervously, asking the older man with a quiet voice. "This ain't the most secure place. Are your family even gonna wanna leave here?"

"Kate'll understand. She knows what to do in crisis, Javi though… He's a sentimental guy when you get in deep enough." David replied, frowning slightly at the thought of arguing with his brother again.

The description of his brother caused Ava to chuckle to herself, hands on her hips as she complimented him. "Sentimentality is not overrated, I guess. I think I'd like to meet your brother."

"Be careful what you wish for." He shot back, unable to stop the bitter undertone from seeping into his words. Noticing that tone, the short woman raised an eyebrow at that, before walking up the driveway to the front door. David moved to follow after her, nearly tripping over Mariana as she pushed past him, running after Ava with excitement clear on her face, warming his heart when he realised just how happy she was to be home.

Quietly, he made his way up the path and to the front door, passing Ava as his hand ghosted over the door handle, pausing only for a moment before he slowly opened it. The door creaked loudly, revealing the inside of the home as David walked in. There was no sign of anyone there. Panic slowly formed in the pit of his stomach, David walked around the living room area, glancing down at the checkers board that was left on the couch, his voice loud as he called out to his missing family. "Javier? Kate? Gabriel? _Soy yo, David! Dónde están?_ "

"Could they have even made it back?" Ava asked, staring at David with worry as he paced around, glancing in the kitchen area while Mariana helped him.

Running over to the hallway, she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted down the dark space. "Gabe? Where are you? Come out, we're home!"

David moved past her as he jogged down the hallway, reaching the bedroom where his father died that night, where they all gathered around to watch him go. Slowly, he opened the door, peeking into the room with a quiet whisper. "Hey, are you guys here?"

Opening the door all the way, David was only greeted by the bed and other furniture that decorated his father's room, the bed post still broken off and left on the old mattress. Letting go of the doorknob, he stood there, staring at the empty room with a devastated expression on his face, unmoving when Mari pushed past him and entered the room, glancing around in a confused manner. Quickly, she turned to him, eyebrows furrowing as she asked him. "Where are they?"

Not replying immediately, David sighed to himself, finally looking down at Mari sadly before he muttered to her. "They're not here. we were too late..."

Her confusion slowly dissolved, and rather sorrow replaced it, her face falling whilst she glanced down at the floor, staring at the broken picture frame that fell off the dresser. David looked down at it too, noticing it was a picture of Mari and Gabe standing together, a park behind them, and with big goofy grins on their faces. He remembered that day. Back when he was still married to their mother, he took them there when he came back from on tour in the army. Gabe was ecstatic to have his father back. When he had to go back, David knew it killed his son to let him go.

"You said," she started, sniffling to herself. "You said they'd be here."

"I know, I know I did." He nodded, kneeling down as she came closer to him, pulling his daughter into a comforting hug whilst she stood there. They stayed there, if only for a few moments, before David pulled away again, staring at Mari as she composed herself again. "Come on, let's see what Ava's found."

As soon as he said that, the lights in the entire house cut out, shoving all of them into darkness as Mariana let out a frightened gasp, her hands gripping David's shirt tightly. He was surprised by the sudden darkness, holding his daughter close to him as he tried to make his way back down the hallway, his hand pressed against the wall to give him some bearing on his surroundings. At the end, he could spot a small flicker of light. Raising an eyebrow, he realised that the light was from a lighter in Ava's hand when he finally reached the doorway into the living room area, standing there as she stared down at a piece of paper in her hand.

Eyes flickered up when she noticed their presence, and with a grim face she passed the piece of paper over to him. "You might wanna read this."

With a worried frown, he took the piece of paper off her, giving her a glance before looking down to read what was written. Looking through the words, his heart clenched, his face clearly showing the pain he felt inside.

_Dad._

_We came back home and tried to wait for you, but after Uncle Javi came back he and Kate decided that it was too dangerous to stay home. We waited all day for you, and I don't wanna leave, but they said it's to keep me safe. I'm sorry. Javi said that some day, we'll find each other again, and until then I want you and Mari to know that we all love you._

_And don't worry, I won't lose the dog tags you gave me. I promise._

_Love, Gabe._

"It's too dangerous to remain in the city. Javier and Kate seemed to have understood that." Ava muttered, turning her back to David as she made her way over to the window, peering out and quickly pointing out worryingly. "The entire electricity supply's been cut. We ain't gonna be able to see anything if we go out now. We wait until dawn, and then leave the city."

"I tried, Ava. I really tried to get back to them, and now I don't know where they are." David sighed in despair, pocketing the note with a deep frown on his face.

She glanced over her shoulder at him with sympathy, turning around and walking back over to the male survivor to comfort him. "Hey, at least they're still alive. Kate and Javier, they can look after Gabe, and maybe yeah, one day we'll find them again, but I need you to stay focused, David."

"Stay focused? How can I when my wife, my brother and my ten year old son are god knows where and I don't know how to find them again?!" He snapped, feeling his control over his temper failing as he turned his back to Ava, storming over to the kitchen area to try and compose himself. On the counter, he spotted the picture of him and Kate on their wedding day, his anger turning to grief as he recalled that day clearly. He would give anything to go back to that day, when they weren't arguing all the time.

From behind him, he heard Ava try to calm him down. "I understand that you're ups-"

"Upset doesn't even begin to cover it! You don't understand, Ava, I have to go out and find my family!" He growled, stubbornly refusing to give up on his family just yet. His loud voice caused Ava to frown slightly, her eyebrows furrowing as she sighed in annoyance.

"Then you're an idiot. We aren't gonna survive five minutes out there, and it'll be too late to find them once dawn comes. Right now, we have to think about survival." She explained, trying to keep the situation calm while David paced in the kitchen, his hand running through his hair as he breathed heavily.

"Whatever. I need some air." He just brushed off, moving past Ava as he opened the door wide, ignoring Ava calling after him as he slammed it behind him. Outside, he stormed over to the steps leading down to the path and sat down, holding his head in his hands as he remained there in silence. The streetlights cutting out left the entire street in darkness, hiding away any danger that may be lurking around.

Sighing deeply, he lifted his face from his hands and instead rested his chin on them, staring down the path with an unfocused gaze. He was unsure what to do. Without Kate, Javier and Gabe, it was just him and Mariana from there on out, the older man glancing over at the empty driveway with a deep frown. He wondered if they were thinking about him right now, wherever they were, and feeling the paper in his pants' pocket, he slowly took it out again and reread the words. Knowing that Gabe missed him and Mariana made him miss his son even more, and staring at the crumpled piece of paper in his hand, he didn't move when he heard the door opening behind him.

"David." Ava's voice called out, soft and gentle with none of the hostility from before hanging on each word. He hated losing his temper, and felt guilty with having yelled at Ava when all she did was help him since they met. Unable to look at her, he instead listened as she sat down beside him, continuing talking with him when he didn't respond. "I'm really sorry about your family. How're you holding up?"

"...Not too good." He confessed, finally able to look at her with a deep frown. "You know, I just realised I never thanked you for helping me get this far. I don't know if we woulda made it without you."

"You give me too much credit, but thanks anyway." She smiled, glancing away from David as the both of them stared out onto the street, cautious in case any of the undead appeared out of nowhere. After a few minutes of silence, he turned his head again when he heard Ava speak up. "Mariana's inside searching the house for anything we need. She's a pretty sweet kid."

"She gets that from her mother. God knows she did all the raising…" David mumbled, a small smile on his face when he recalled all the memories with Gabe and Mariana's mother. However, they soon became too painful and, with his frown returning, he stood up once more.

"We should get some sleep. We leave at dawn."

"Yeah, I'm pretty exhausted." Ava agreed, standing up as well while David walked back up the steps, walking through the open door and glancing around for Mariana. Quickly, he spotted her standing by a stand where Javier kept his signed baseball and bat, the child staring at the possessions while he slowly walked over to her. Noticing his presence, she glanced up at him with a smile on her face.

"I want to take something of Uncle Javi's." She explained, her smile falling as she continued. "I know we shouldn't take things we don't need, but I need it. I wanna give it back to him when we find him again."

"Okay, mija. Take this." David agreed, picking up Javier's baseball and passing it to his daughter, ruffling the top of her head affectionately as she took it. With the small object in her hands, she flashed a wide smile at her father as he returned it, glancing over at Javier's baseball bat with sadness in his eyes. She noticed this and followed his gaze, staring at the baseball bat too.

"You should take it." She suggested, glancing up at David while he continued to stare at it. "That way, you can have something from Uncle Javi too."

"I did teach him how to play baseball. Never thanked me for it." David retorted, picking up the baseball bat, feeling the solid wood's weight in his hands as he let his hand hang by his side, holding onto the weapon tightly as he nodded. "Alright. Come on, then. It's bedtime."

"Okay…" She sighed, taking hold of David's hand as he started to lead her to the bedroom. Ava appeared by the door, closing it behind her while the other two moved towards the hallway, the young girl pausing as she turned to the other woman. "Goodnight, Ava."

"Night, kid." She replied, sitting down on the couch while watching David and Mariana disappear into the hallway. Leading her through the darkness, he paused in front of one of the other bedroom, unable to bring himself to go into the room at the end of the hallway. Opening the door, he allowed Mariana to go in by herself, keeping the door open as he watched her shuffle over to the single bed. Quickly, she shuffled under the covers, sitting upright while staring at David standing in the doorway.

Quietly, she called out to him. "I don't wanna sleep alone tonight. Will you stay?"

"Sure thing, mija." He nodded, keeping the door open as he entered into the bedroom, making his way slowly over to the small bed whilst Mariana sat there, the small child shuffling over to make some room for the older man to sit down. The mattress creaked under his weight, and slipping his shoes off, he laid down beside Mariana with his arm wrapped around her protectively, keeping her close as he softly muttered to her. "Goodnight, sweetie."

"Goodnight." She muttered back, before she fell silent. Lying there, staring at the ceiling as his daughter slowly fell asleep, he sighed deeply to himself, unable to stop his thoughts from drifting back to his family, wondering where they were, if they were safe. After a while, his eyes started closing with sleep washing over him, and he fell asleep in that small bed, unsure what tomorrow would bring them.


	4. Weeks After Escaping

"David… Hey, wake up." A voice whispered softly, the feeling of a hand nudging his shoulder stirring David from his slumber. Eyes slowly opened, squinting with the bright light from outside hitting them, and glancing around, he could make out Ava standing over him, a smirk on her face as she raised an eyebrow. Confused to why she had an amused expression on her face, he noticed that there was a lack of weight next to him, looking down to see that Mariana had disappeared, leaving the grown man on the ridiculously small bed, one of his legs hanging off the side while he slept.

With a grunt, he sat upwards and stretched his arms out, feeling his spine crack in different places. While he did this, he could hear Ava start to joke. "You slept for a pretty long time, Mari and I were doing rock, paper, scissors to see who would be the one to wake you up."

"What time is it?" he asked, glancing outside the window to see that the sun had already risen. "It's well past dawn, I thought we were leaving at first light."

"We're leaving soon. Mariana only woke up a little while ago, so I've got her packing up any food and supplies that we need." She revealed, taking a step back to give David some space, watching him as he stood up from the child's bed. Limbs stiff, he rubbed his lower back with a pained look and yawned quietly.

"Javier took the van, and I totaled my car. It looks like we're gonna have to go on foot." He grumbled, uneasy with the thought of walking through the streets full of the undead. Ava seemed to agree with him, though she smiled softly while crossing her arms, causing the grown man to stare at her in confusion until she took a pair of pliers from her jacket pocket.

"Not with these." She chuckled, taking one glance at David's dumbfounded expression before she elaborated on her plan. "There's cars all around here that's been left. I can hotwire one of them, and we can siphon gas when we need it."

"You know how to hotwire?" He joked, amused with the thought that the woman in front of him knew about those things. Though, he had to give her credit, he was utterly useless around cars, and so he only listened as she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Hey, these tricks I learned are gonna get us a car, so how about you help Mariana pack up while I go out and find us a suitable one?" She suggested with a smirk, turning around on her foot and walking back out of the bedroom. With the door left open, David stood there, still rubbing his lower back as he sighed deeply, glancing around the room one last time. It was painful, knowing that this was the last time he would see his home, stand in this room, but he had to keep moving forward, and Mariana needed him to remain strong. He would need to be there to teach her how to be strong too.

So, taking in a deep breath, he left the room and closed the door behind him. Down the hall, he could hear Mariana talking to Ava, the two sharing a few words that he couldn't catch before a door closing ended the conversation. Slowly, he reached the end of the hallway, peering through the open door to see Mariana walking around, backpack in hand. The young child didn't notice him, rather putting her backpack on the couch and zipping it shut. While she did this, David entered the living room area, moving behind her as he made his presence known, calling out to his daughter with a calm tone. "You packed everything, mija?"

"Yeah." She replied, turning around to face David while slipping her arms through the straps, making sure the backpack was secure before she added. "Ava's gone to get us a car."

"Yeah, sweetie, she told me." He smiled down at her. Mariana returned the gesture, her face bright as she fiddled with the headphones that were wrapped around her neck, David noticing them for the first time as he asked her. "You found your headphones?"

"I wanted to take my walkman with me. Ava found me some batteries, too." She explained, taking her walkman out of her pants pocket to show the older man. Staring down at it, he recalled giving that to her for her birthday, knowing that Mariana enjoyed listening to music, and that it kept her quiet during car rides. Hopefully, it'd work when Ava returned with a car.

After a few moments, she put in back in her pocket and turned around, picking something up from the couch while David watched, confused as to what it was until she turned back to him, the object in her hands revealed to be the baseball bat. Passing it to him, she added. "I took it while you were sleeping and kept it safe. Ava said it's too big for me."

"She's right." He agreed, holding the weapon in one hand while ruffling the top of his daughter's head affectionately. "Don't worry. I'll protect you."

Mariana's smile widened at that, her voice proud when she replied. "Me too!"

"You'll protect me? I think that's the grown up's job, mija." David joked, kneeling in front of her with an amused smile, staying in that position as Mariana pursed her lips in thought.

"Well, when I get bigger, I can do more. Until then, I'll just stay close to you, right?" She suggested, earning a deep chuckle from David as he stood back up.

"Right." He nodded in agreement. With a smile, she walked over to the window by the front door, peering out impatiently as she waited for Ava to return, unmoving when David decided to go and check that they packed everything. Walking over to the kitchen, he paused when he noticed the dishes that were left in the sink that night that Salvador died, eyes shifting over to an empty pudding cup left on the counter. Likely Gabe's.

With a sigh, he left them alone as he made his way over to the fridge, opening it to see that there was no food left inside, completely cleaned out, and so he closed the door again. When he checked the cupboards, there was nothing left in them either, even in the ones that Mariana couldn't have reached by herself. Backing away, he walked out of the kitchen area and moved towards the window, staring outside to see if he could spot Ava, and frowned when he couldn't. Despite the woman being capable of defending herself, he didn't like anyone going out into a dangerous environment without backup.

Looking away, he just stared ahead while deep in his thoughts, noticing that a photograph had disappeared from the cabinet in front of him, an eyebrow raised in confusion as he briskly walked over to the surface. With a frown, he turned his head to Mariana, noticing that the child was still staring out of the window when he asked her. "Mariana, do you know where the photo here has gone?"

She didn't reply immediately, rather silently slipping her backpack off and zipping it open, rummaging through its contents whilst David moved closer to her, staring down as she pulled the familiar photo frame out and passed it to him. Taking it from her, he stared at the family photo in his hands, unable to stop his sadness from being shown in his face. The whole family was standing there, his parents sitting down with Gabe standing next to them, Javier behind them while David was next to his brother, holding a younger Mariana in his arms, and Kate standing by his side with a small smile on her face. Everyone looked so happy.

"It's the only picture we have with all of us." He heard the young girl mutter, glancing from the photo to see her staring down at the floor with an upset expression. Sympathetic of her, he looked at the photo one more time before passing it back to her, giving her a small smile to calm her down.

"Keep it. We can remember them all better this way." He allowed, watching as her smile returned and she nodded ecstatically, shoving the photo back into her backpack before zipping it back up, going to slip it on when a knock on the door caused both of them to tense.

Frowning deeply, David moved closer to the door, his frown lifting when he heard Ava's voice call out from behind it. "Hey, it's me! I found us a ride!"

"She works fast." He muttered under his breath, opening the door quickly, allowing Ava to walk in with a pleased smile on her face.

Pausing between them, she turned to Mariana and placed her hands on her hips, quickly asking the child. "You got everything?"

"Yeah. I've packed it all in my bag, like you said." She replied, raising the backpack for Ava to see, and lowered it back down when the grown woman nodded in response. Quickly, both Mariana and David noticed that she was holding something in her hand, the child faster to respond as she pointed out. "What's that in your hand?"

"Oh." Ava started, lifting it up so that the other survivors could get a proper look at it. David stared at it, realising that it was a coat, too small to fit him, and the bunny face on it looking too childish for Ava to wear. Slowly, she passed it to Mariana, explaining while she put it on. "I found this while looking for a suitable car. You should take it, it'd look good on you."

Mariana looked pleased with the item of clothing, zipping it up as she looked up at David and Ava, a frown appearing on her face when her father pointed out. "It's a bit big on her."

"Shut it, she'll grow into it." Ava snided, smacking David in the arm before turning back to Mariana. "You look cute in it. You'll need it, with the weather getting colder and that."

"I like it. Thank you, Ava." Mariana responded gratefully, rolling the sleeves up more so that her hands could be seen, before she picked up her backpack and slipped her arms through the straps. With her things, she just stood there as Ava turned her attention to David.

"We got enough gas for now, but we are gonna have to scavenge some on our way out. There's stuff in the boot for that." She explained, turning her head to Mariana as David nodded, a smile on her face while she suggested to the younger survivor. "Hey, kid, why don't you go to the car? Me and your dad'll be out in a minute."

"Okay…" She muttered, walking out of the open door and making her way down the path to the parked car, David glancing out of the door to keep an eye on her.

As he did so, he listened as Ava continued talking to him, her voice adopting a more serious tone without the child there to become worried. "Now that Mariana isn't here, we should talk about where we're going next."

"What's the plan, then?" he asked, glancing over at the other adult with a worried look. "The car's good for getting outta the city, but I can't imagine it being a long-term solution."

"You're right there, I ain't the type for long road trips, but we may not have a choice. Either way, we should try and find other people, maybe a place where it's safer to stay for the long run." She advised, sparing a quick glance around the house while she added. "This place isn't the safest, but that doesn't mean that nowhere's safe, right?"

"First things first, we gotta leave this city. I don't care where we go as long as Mariana is safe." David brushed off, earning a deep frown from Ava as she shook her head, shifting her gaze back at him after looking around the house.

"Well, yeah, protecting her is our main goal, but looking for a group will give her that protection. Us, too." She pointed out, crossing her arms as she added somewhat nervously. "I'm gonna be honest, David. I have no idea what I'm doing with her."

David smirked at her nervousness, glancing outside the door to see Mariana sitting in the back of the car, listening to her walkman while the grown ups discussed their future plans. Slowly, he glanced back at Ava and noted. "I think you're doing fine. She seems to like you."

"Really? I thought she was gonna hate that jacket, to be honest. I just saw the bunny and thought 'Hey, kids like rabbits!', you know?" She revealed, smiling when her confession earned a chuckle from David.

"You're in luck, Mariana likes rabbits. It'd be Gabe you woulda had to look out for." He joked, though the mention of his son caused his smile to falter. Ava noticed this change in expression, staring up at him with sympathy clear in her eyes, and she just placed a hand on his shoulder with a saddened smile.

"Come on, we best head off." She sighed, moving to walk out of the door with David by her side, the grown man grabbing the door handle and closing the door. Standing on the porch, he paused, still holding the doorknob with a deep frown. This was his home, and it hurt having to leave it, and the memories, behind. However, with Ava waiting on the path for him, he forced himself to deal with the emotions, and walked away from the door. With him making his way down the path, Ava gave him an empathetic look, before she too walked briskly over to the car, having left it running in fear that it wouldn't start again if she turned it off.

While she got in the driver's seat, David stopped at the passenger seat, glancing in the back of the car to see Mariana watching him, her headphones over her ears as she continued to listen to her walkman. Trying not to worry her, he just sat down in the seat and closed the car door, staring up at his house while Ava started to drive away. With the home behind him, he exhaled quietly and just stared at the road ahead, trying to block out the memories of driving down this road a few days ago. Mariana said nothing, rather sitting in the back with her backpack, and soon he could hear the zipping sound again.

Glancing up in the rearview mirror, he noticed that she had gotten the family photo out, staring down at it while listening to her music. He felt the same pain she did, but he was also grateful that she was with him. Without his daughter, he wouldn't know what he would have done, where he would have gone. Either way, she was with him, and he kept that in mind when the thought of his missing family caused his chest to constrict. Quietly behind him, he heard his daughter call out to the adults in front. "Where're we going now?"

"Somewhere safer, kid." Ava replied, glancing up in the mirror with a smile. "We should be outta the city soon."

"Are we gonna find Javi, Kate and Gabe?" She asked, sitting there innocently while Ava and David shared a look.

After some silent urging from the grown woman, he turned his head around, staring at the child as he tried to explain to her. "Listen, mija… We don't know where they've gone. Right now, we just gotta get out of the city, find people that can help us, okay?"

She didn't respond to that. Rather, she looked down at the photo in her hands and moved her headphones over her ears again, sitting there with a saddened look on her face while David watched in silence, slowly turning back around as he glanced over at Ava. She kept driving, a worried frown on her face, but neither of them said anything as they went along the lonely road. Leaning back in his seat, he just stared out of the window, no longer in the mood to pass the time with conversation, and it was clear that Ava felt the same.

Eventually, the houses became more sparse, the car driving through the city whilst avoiding the highway, dodging the traffic that blocked the roads. Soon, a sign started to appear in the distance, and as they got closer, David could see the words clearly written on it.

Now leaving Baltimore. Come back soon!

Passing it, he glanced up in the rearview mirror, watching as the city, the place he called home, got smaller and smaller while they drove on, unsure where to go and what to do, their future unclear to the small group.

The weeks after leaving the city were lonely. Staying in the car, siphoning any gas that they could find to keep it going, David soon found that sleeping in a car was an awful experience, his long legs bundled up in the small space, and the darkness outside setting him on edge. Out there, he was uncertain of what dangers lurked, and the car only provided some protection from the elements. The summer nights were warm enough, but his worries were about the winter months that were coming. Along with that, the food that they took from their home had ran out, and the group were forced to visit towns, scavenging anything that they could find, and it wasn't long before other survivors had the same idea.

Sitting in the passenger seat, watching the sun appearing from behind the horizon, David leaned his elbow against the window, his chin resting in the palm of his hand with a bored look on his face. Behind him, Mariana slept peacefully, her headphones on so that she could listen to her music while she slept, meaning that David and Ava couldn't disturb her as they talked to each other. Sure enough, he heard Ava's voice joke when she pointed out. "Okay, I'm gonna come out and say it. Your snoring is getting out of hand."

"I don't snore." He shot back, looking over at Ava as she sat in the driver's seat, a smirk on her face while she glanced over at him occasionally, keeping her eyes on the road to avoid hitting anything.

With a raised eyebrow, she sarcastically retorted. "Right, those sounds that've been keeping me up every night are obviously Mariana's."

"Hmmm, you should have heard my father's." David revealed, crossing his arms as he leaned back into his seat, feeling his legs cramping up from being in the same position for a long time. "That man could've woken up the dead."

"I'm sure he had nothing on my dad." Ava smirked, laughing when she remembered her past. David joined in, laughing quietly as to not disturb Mariana, and after he finished, he listened intently to Ava's story. "It got so bad that my mom had to buy ear plugs whenever my dad came home."

"Came home? Where did he go?" David suddenly asked. His question caused Ava's smile to fall, rather the younger woman wearing a saddened frown as she thought about her answer. After a few minutes, he could feel the awkwardness building up, glancing away as he mumbled. "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to."

"Nah, it's okay. I guess I can tell you." She shrugged, waiting for David to turn back to face her before she continued. "My dad was in the army. He served before I was even born… and he loved it. My mom wasn't as enthusiastic, she always used to tell me 'Don't be like your father. Don't abandon your family and run off to the army.'..."

She chuckled quietly after her impersonation, but David felt like he was unable to join in, recalling his own wants to run away to the army. Javier was adamant that he stayed, he recalled that argument as clear as if it happened only yesterday, but David was stubborn. Hearing Ava tell him what her mother used to say stung, and he could only wonder if that's how his own family felt his enrolment was. Abandonment. After a short pause, Ava carried on with her story. "I didn't think he abandoned us, though. He was my hero, and when I told him I was enrolling in the army too, he was happy for me."

"It sounds like he was really proud of you." David pointed out, noticing Ava's fallen expression as she stared ahead.

"Yeah, he was…" She muttered, glancing over at him with a serious look. "My mom wasn't, though. She thought I was gonna abandon her too, that I'm just like my dad. I didn't care. In the army, I felt like I belonged somewhere, that someone gave a damn about me. I never really got that from her…"

"I can understand that." He confessed, adding in a softer tone. "My parents didn't want me to go to the army… In fact, none of my family did, but I felt I had to, you know?"

"I guess misery loves company, huh?" Ava joked, both of them sharing a short laugh before falling silent. After that little share, he felt somewhat relieved that he told someone, figuring that if there was anyone he could trust, it was Ava. Over the weeks on the road, they had gone down into the state of Virginia, making pit stops at any town they could find, but made a note to steer clear of the large cities. Just like Baltimore, the cities were swarmed with the undead, and the numbers kept growing as time went by.

Watching the trees lining the lone road pass by, he sat there aws the other adult in the car piped up. "We should reach the next town soon."

"Hang on, lemme grab your notepad." He replied, opening the glovebox in front of him and rummaging through the contents, adding when he pulled the notepad out. "Haven't you thought to take all this useless junk out?"

"I told you I'm gonna get around to that." She shot back, using one of her hands to slam the glovebox shut while David stared down at the notepad, the latter appearing serious for a moment as he stared at the handwriting scribbled across the paper. It was a list of supplies that Ava made, and looking over the items that were crossed out, along with additions being made, he listened as she asked him. "You know what we need?"

"Well, Mariana ate all the animal crackers, so we should find more to keep her happy." David joked, flashing a smirk over at Ava as she laughed quietly, though his smile fell when he continued. "It's just the usual. Food, water, medicine. How's the tank?"

"We're running kinda low, so add that to the list." Ava instructed, leaning into her seat with a deep sigh while David fished out the pen from the cup holder, scribbling down the things before closing the notepad, keeping it on his person. The silence between them was broken when he heard shuffling behind him, glancing at the back seats to see Mariana waking up, large eyes blinking after slowly opening.

As she sat up slightly, he called out to her with a gentle tone. "You sleep alright, mija?"

"Yeah… Where are we?" She mumbled, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.

"It looks like we're on our way to Ripley." Ava replied, glancing at David with a worried frown as she added. "We should be careful. There's a big city to the south of it, the walkers may have moved on from the cities."

"As long as we keep moving, we shouldn't have to worry about the muertos." He pointed out. Ava shrugged her shoulders at that, keeping quiet while Mariana sat up properly, peering through the space between the front seats, pushing her headphones down from her ears so that they were sitting around her neck. David looked away, instead watching the road ahead while the group sat in silence, listening to the hum of the engine as they drove along. Soon however, he could make out a low growling noise behind him, and sure enough Mariana spoke up sheepishly.

"I'm kinda hungry." She revealed, earning a short chuckle from both Ava and David. The latter looked down at the bag he had in the footwell, grabbing it as he zipped the top open, rummaging through the contents to look for something. Quickly, he found it, and pulled out a candy bar before passing it back to his daughter, smiling warmly when the sight of the food made the young girl grin brightly.

"It's not much, but here you go." He muttered, watching with a smirk as Mariana gently took the candy bar from him, tucking into it with her grin unfaltering, before the older man turned back around. Glancing over at Ava, he noticed that she was just staring ahead with a gentle smile on her face, her gaze shifting over to him when she noticed his staring.

Quietly, she looked back to the road and asked him. "What're you staring at?"

"You look pretty happy. After Jonas… you've just been pretty out of it these past few weeks." David pointed out, his smile falling slightly at the mention of the deceased soldier, and when Ava's expression changed to a somber look, he quickly added. "I shouldn't have brought him up. Sorry."

"Hey, it's not your fault. Jonas was my best friend, we did so much together, and it's… it's weird, thinking that I'm here, and he's not. It's kinda hard to explain, but do you feel like that with someone?" She wondered, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel while David thought deeply, somewhat caught off guard by the question. With raised eyebrows and pursed lips, he leaned his chin against his hand again and finally decided to answer the question.

"When we were younger, I never thought that I'd be away from Javier." He confessed.

"The baseball brother?" Ava replied, surprise clear in her voice as David nodded, listening as she recalled. "I thought you said you couldn't stand him?"

"It's more complicated than that. I guess, in my own way, I still love him. He's my little brother." He elaborated, his eyes falling down to the dashboard as he sighed deeply, his voice dropping when he slowly added. "I never thought I'd say this, but I miss that idiot."

"I'm sure you do…" Ava responded softly. After that conversation, they all fell silent. Still leaning against the window, David watched as a sign passed them, the car going too fast for him to get a good look, but he knew that they were close to the town, and so did Ava. The young child behind them had finished the candy bar, shoving the wrapper in her jacket pocket before enjoying her walkman again, staring out of the window.

As they drove along the road, he noticed the outline of buildings in the distance, Ava noticing them too as she slowed the car down. On a pole outside of the town, a blue sign was tied with white letters spelling out Ripley, confirming that the small group had made it to the town. However, David felt anything but relief, unsure what was inside the town, and so he sat up in his seat with his nerves on edge. The trees slowly disappeared as they neared the town, rather houses with large lawns replacing them. Eventually, they reached further in the town, Ava slowing the car to a complete stop.

"This should be a good place to look around." She spoke up, opening the door and standing up from her seat, walking to the front of the car as she stretched her arms and legs. David opened his door, pausing as he glanced behind his seat, spotting Mariana staring out of the window with her headphones back around her neck, the child appearing nervous with getting out of the car.

"Come on, mija. We gotta go and find some more food." He explained, watching as Mariana turned to look at him before he added. "Stay close to me, keep an eye on your surroundings, and we'll be fine."

"Okay…" She replied, opening the door and getting out of the car while David followed after her, grabbing the baseball bat lying against the back seat, as well as the backpack between his legs, before he left the car. Closing the door behind him, he glanced over at Ava as she made her way over to them, holding her pistol in one hand.

"We should be on the lookout for ammo, too." She noted, on the lookout for any of the undead that may sneak up on them. When the coast was clear, she turned back to face David as she continued. "I'll take the lead, watch my back."

"Sure." He nodded, following after Ava as she began to walk down the empty street, passing the purple backpack to Mariana for her to wear. Protectively, his arm moved to the centre of Mariana's back to keep her close to him. The silence was unnerving, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up, eyes glancing around for any sign of danger, and when he saw none, he wondered where the muertos were. Ripley was a small town, but it had people regardless. The place should have had some of the undead roaming around.

Just as he thought that, he spotted a fairly large group roaming along the street further down, Ava pausing in her steps when she noticed them as well. Quickly, she turned down one of the side streets, David sparing a glance at the walkers before following after her, allowing Mariana to take lead in front of him. The little girl tried to keep up with Ava, her shorter legs proving disadvantageous in that situation, and when she noticed the difficulty for Mari to keep up, the grown woman slowed down slightly to let her keep by her side. David remained at the back, keeping an eye out for anything dangerous.

Pausing in front of a smashed up shop, Ava turned her head to David as he came up to them, loudly wondering to him. "What're the odds that this is already picked clean?"

"I say 50-50." He shot back, staring at the broken window while Ava laughed softly, muttering under her breath before she climbed in through the window, jumping down on the other side as David moved closer to Mariana. With a look from the child, he picked her up, careful around the glass remaining in the window frame, and passed her over to the waiting Ava, the other adult taking Mari out of his hands and placing her gently on the ground again. With both of them in, he placed a foot in the window frame and climbed through, careful not to cut his hand or injure himself on the broken shards of glass on the floor inside the shop.

All in, he looked around the poorly lit shop, the shelves that were once lined with supplies tipped over and picked clean, some having collapsed onto the floor. Walking forward slightly, he let out a yelp of surprise when his foot slipped on something, his hand grabbing onto the counter to steady himself while Ava appeared by his side, holding onto him tightly. Straightening himself out, he moved closer to the counter and glanced down at the floor, wondering what it was that he could have slipped on, and only gulped when he saw it. A puddle of blood staining the once clean tiles, the red fluid smeared in a line that suggested the injured person was dragged away, either by themselves or someone.

"Be careful, Mari." Ava ordered, looking over her shoulder at the child as the latter just stood there. Nodding, she looked around nervously, staying where she was while the adults went around the shop, looking for anything that they needed. David scanned them, trying to see if there was anything that the people who ransacked the place had missed. However, it looked like they were thorough in their search, and the lack of something to show for their troubles caused David to groan under his breath.

"Hey, there seems to be a back room here. I'll check it out." Ava pointed out, walking past David as she moved around the counter, ignoring the till and instead moving to open the door. After jiggling the knob, she cursed quietly to herself. "Dammit, locked. Let's see where they left the keys."

While she got on with that, David continued to search through the shop, joined by Mariana as she helped her father find supplies. Pausing at one of the shelves that had been tipped over, he slipped his hands underneath it and lifted, the strain causing him to grunt loudly. Slowly, it started to lift off the ground, and with Mariana helping him to lift it, the shelf was soon propped up against the wall again. Breathing loudly, he noticed that some of the supplies had fallen on fallen onto the floor when the shelves were tipped over, and sighed in relief as he gathered them up. Unzipping Mariana's backpack, he threw all that he could find inside, a few packets of nuts, jerky, as well as a bottle of juice.

"Ah, found you!" He heard Ava laugh in triumph, glancing over to see her holding up a key from behind the counter. Chuckling under his breath, he turned back to do his own thing while she turned to unlock the back door, moving away from the shelf when it didn't hold anything else. The sound of the door opening reached him, and rather than look over to see what Ava was doing, he kept looking around for more supplies.

Suddenly, the sounds of loud growls and Ava yelling caused him to jump, her voice frightened as she yelled. "Oh, fuck!"

Rushing from the shelves, he ran over to the counter to see Ava being pushed out of the door by a walker, the grown woman tripping over and collapsing with the undead falling on top of her, arms pushed upwards to stop gnashing jaws from sinking into her neck. Quickly, he ran around the counter, readying the baseball bat as he aimed for the head. Swinging as hard as he could, a sickening whack rang through the air, the force pushing the walker off of Ava as she pulled herself away. Despite the strength he put into the blow, it did not kill the walker, the thing growling weakly as it tried to crawl to David's foot, only for the bat to be swung down on top of its head.

The feeling of blood splattering upwards onto his face made him sick to the stomach. Panting loudly, he backed away with bloodied baseball bat in hand, staring at the walker left bleeding on the floor, its head caved in with the vicious assault. Ava just sat there, staring at the walker with David standing next to her, before Mariana's voice called out, her voice clearly showing the panic the child had felt. "A-Are you okay?!"

"Yeah… Fuck, I'm fine." She replied, looking up at David as she thanked him. "Thanks for having my back."

"I'm returning the favour. You did save my life when we first met." He pointed out with a small smile, offering his hand for Ava. Smirking at his comment, she took his hand gratefully, both of them grunting as he pulled her off the floor. Standing up, she turned to the open door and walked in slightly, picking something off the ground and turning back to him, the thing being revealed to be her pistol, likely dropped during the attack.

"I don't think anyone got into here. That guy over there's pretty… rotten." She pointed out, grimacing at the sight of the walker by their feet. David couldn't bring himself to look at it, the smell alone causing his stomach to churn and he could only suppress a gag before following after Ava into the back room. It was darker than the other part of the store, the only source of light being the lighter that she took out of her jacket, though the small flame did little help in lighting up their surroundings.

Regardless, he heard Ava whistle loudly before she walked further, kneeling down in front of boxes of supplies as she joyfully laughed. "Damn, there's so much stuff here!"

"Looks like it was here before all this shit happened." David smirked, walking over to the boxes as he picked on up, weighing it in his hands with his smirk widening. "Pretty heavy. This stuff'll keep us going for a while."

"I can go and grab the car. Saves us making multiple trips carrying all this stuff." Ava suggested, walking back out of the room quickly, leaving David to start moving the stuff to the front part of the store. With the box in his hand, he moved to follow after her, pausing when he heard the grown woman cursing. "Goddammit…"

"Ava? What's going on?" He asked loudly, walking out of the room to see what was wrong. As soon as he entered the main part of the store, he froze by Ava's side, the two of them staring at the unknown person that was by Mariana's side. The child didn't seem afraid, rather standing there in confusion at the others' reactions. The woman beside her was surprised to see David and Ava, holding her hands up in a nonthreatening way.

"Hey," she started, moving slightly away from Mariana. "I ain't a threat."

"Who are you?" David asked, glaring at the woman before he turned to Mariana. "Did she hurt you, mija?"

"No, she's nice." The young girl replied, glancing back at the woman with a warm smile. Unconvinced, he looked her over and sure enough, she didn't look threatening to him. Taller than Ava, yet shorter than himself, she lowered her hands and instead fiddled with her pale red jacket, zipped up to offer better protection from the cold. Along with her jacket, she wore a pair of worn jeans, her boots tapping against the tile floor. Standing there silently, she appeared unnerved with the two staring at her.

"I'm Alexis. I just wanted to see if you people were alright." She explained, shifting between Ava and David.

"Yeah, we're fine. Where's your group, Alexis? Or are you out here on your own?" Ava asked, moving from behind the counter while David placed the heavy box on top of it, looking back at Alexis as she rubbed her upper arm awkwardly.

"No, my group are out there scavenging." She shook her head, pointing out of the broken window before letting her arm fall to her side. With that information, Ava moved to the broken window and peered out, moving away as Alexis added. "You guys from here? I haven't seen yous before."

"No, I'm from Baltimore." David revealed, watching as Ava glanced over at him, both of them sharing a look before she turned back to the newcomer.

"I'm Ava." The grown woman revealed, shaking Alexis' hand with a smile before introducing the other two. "Other there's David, and that's his daughter, Mariana."

"Hi!" The child replied happily, waving at Alexis with a smile on her face. Smiling back, she looked over at David, the smile fading slightly with his stern look, though his expression softened when he saw the slight fear in her face.

Coughing slightly, she listened as Ava explained to her. "We're just packing up and leaving. What're the others in your group like?"

"Well, we're only a small scout group for a community south of here." Alexis revealed, her smile returning when she offered estatically. "Hey, why don't you guys come with us? We have food, shelter, everything you need. It's a bit in its early stages, but it's safer than living on the road."

"That does sound nice." Ava agreed, glancing over at David as she noticed his unsure face, quickly pointing out to him. "We were looking for a group, David. Maybe this is the one."

"You guys are welcome to come. We've been gathering people over these few weeks since the plague, and it'll be safe there for your little girl." Alexis convinced. David had to admit, the thought of being somewhere safe, no longer being forced to sleep in the cramped car, with the fear of walkers or worse just outside of the shelter, sounded pretty appealing to him. Ava stared at him, waiting for his answer with a hopeful look, the grown man already knowing her answer to the offer. Mariana waited for his answer as well, already trusting of the newcomer as her face almost begged with David to let them go.

With a deep sigh, he rubbed the back of his neck and nodded. "Alright. That sounds amazing, if I have to admit it."

"Awesome!" Alexis replied, moving closer to him as she continued. "Lemme properly introduce you guys, then."

Holding her hand out to shake his, she waited as David looked down at it, slowly grabbing hold of it with his own and shook it, listening as she joyfully welcomed them. "Welcome to Charleston."


	5. Warming Welcomes

Alexis was right. David noticed three other people standing by a truck, keeping a watch out as they awaited for their friend's return. Ava helped with the supplies, carrying some of the boxes while Alexis and David carried the other, Mariana carried the smallest box they could find, wanting to help. One of the group, a dark skinned man sitting on the back of the truck, machete in hand, noticed the new people approaching, staying put in his seat with a warm smile on his face. Alexis returned the smile, turning to David as she muttered. "These guys are pretty cool, don't worry about them."

"They seem pretty friendly." Ava pointed out, walking by David's other side as the male survivor nodded in response. Though, he wasn't exactly sure what to make of the group, another man by the dark skinned one glanced at them before looking away, his arms crossed while a scowl appeared over his worn face.

"Jordan's the nicest guy I know. He'll make you guys feel right at home, but I'd be wary of Ax… He's not known for his welcoming personality." Alexis explained, her voice dropping to a nervous mumble when she mentioned the other man, and she glanced away from the others for a moment. The way she talked about him caused David to frown deeply, unsure whether to trust him after the terrible first impression she gave him, and kept his guard up as they neared the truck.

"Ax? What kind of name is that?" Ava joked, sharing a quiet laugh with Alexis.

Her laughter falling to a short giggle, the pale woman glanced over at Ax, her smile fading as she revealed. "He said it's short for Axel, though I wouldn't recommend calling him that."

"And who's she?" David suddenly asked, staring at the woman who bore an uncanny resemblance to Alexis. Watching her, he could see from her body language that she was in no way similar to the young survivor standing next to him, holding herself in a strong mannar, a rifle clutched tightly in her hands as her cold face stared at the people approaching the group, though it softened when she saw that Alexis was in no trouble. Although Alexis wore her dark brown hair in a loose ponytail, the other woman cut hers short, sporting a baseball cap that covered dark eyes from the sun shining above them.

"That's Carissa. In case you hadn't figured it out from her looks, she's my twin sister." Alexis replied, adding quickly in a whisper. "She's nice when she gets to know you, but I'd just be careful. She's not one you wanna piss off."

"Good to know." He retorted, his voice a sarcastic drawl before he fell silent, the group reaching the truck and Alexis' people. Jordan was the first to react to their presence, jumping down from his seat on the back of the truck and laughed joyfully.

"I see you brought friends to this little party!." He pointed out in a humorous way, a wide grin on his face as he noticed the boxes of supplies that the others were holding. "Holy shit, you guys hit the jackpot there."

"These were in that store over there." Alexis explained, moving past Jordan as she placed the boxes she was carrying on the back of the truck, turning her head to introduce David and the others. "I found David and his group there too."

"Well, how're you guys? I'm Jordan." Jordan welcomed, offering his hand out for David to shake. He stood there, waiting for Alexis to take the boxes before he returned the gesture, shaking the other's hand firmly while Ava and Mariana moved past to put their boxes on the back of the vehicle. After letting go, he watched Jordan shake his hand with a low whistle. "You have a pretty strong grip there. Ouch."

"He's just like that. I'm Ava." Ava introduced, taking hold of Jordan's hand with a gentler grip, shaking it slowly as the other man just smiled. As the grown woman did that, David spotted Mariana moving behind her, staring up at the new survivors with a curious glint in her eyes, similar to how she'd act with guests at their home. She looked nervous, yet wanting to go and interact with other people, and with a comforting smile, he silently pushed her to talk to them.

Shuffling from behind Ava, she stood there as Jordan noticed her, kneeling down in front of her with a wide grin. "Hey there, what's your name?"

"Mariana…" The young girl mumbled, holding onto Ava's jacket with a small smile on her face. David moved closer to her, allowing his daughter to move to his side and hold his hand, knowing she found comfort in the action, and watched as Jordan stood up again.

"That's a pretty name. You guys have a lovely daughter." He complimented, looking up at David and Ava as the former coughed awkwardly, his female companion staring at the man in shock, body tense and eyebrows raised high. If it had not been for the awkwardness, David would have found her action pretty amusing.

"Oh, erm… she's not mine." She revealed, the shock on her face dissolving to an awkward smile. The confession caused Jordan to stare at both of them, and then look down at Mariana, the child unsure what was going on as he just laughed, the embarrassment clear on his reddened face. Rubbing the back of his neck, he looked over at his friends, Carissa finding the situation hilarious as she smirked at him, though Axel wasn't at all amused by the misunderstanding, rather closing the gap between him and the others.

"We should get back to Charleston." He growled deeply, tossing the keys to Jordan as he spun on his heel, making his way over to the front of the vehicle. "I'd rather not stand here and gossip with the dead all around us. Let's move out!"

"Jerkass." Carissa muttered under her breath, walking up to David and the others before she addressed them. "You guys wanna hop in the back with us? There's not much room, but we can manage."

"We have our own ride, just parked down the road. We'll follow you guys to Charleston with that." David declined, gesturing for Ava to follow after him when Carissa just nodded in response. The two adults walked down the road, leaving the others to wait by the truck, Mariana running after her father and friend with a giddy smile on her face. She looked excited to arrive at the place, and David wouldn't blame her. Living in the car wasn't the best option, and he didn't want her to have to worry about what would be lurking outside their shelter that night, but he was on edge with the people.

Alexis was nice enough, and Jordan was pretty cool once he got over that embarrassing assumption about him and Ava, but the other two he was less sure about. Carissa was cold, he could see it in her face when she looked at them, the harsh bite to her voice, and Axel was just a plain asshole. Once they reached Charleston, he would keep his distance to those two. He had enough with assholes in his life. Ava seemed to enjoy the presence of some of the survivors there, but he could see that she too was on edge when Axel came closer to her. Maybe it was just intuition, or it could have been more, but he didn't know. For now, he would keep Mariana away from them as well.

"I'm glad we've got somewhere safe to sleep tonight." Ava piped up, glancing up at David with a relieved look on her face. "I've had enough of rolling the seat back just to get some space in that thing, and I won't have to deal with your snoring."

"That's fine by me. I was sick of you kicking me in your sleep." David shot back, flashing a cheeky grin at the flustered Ava as he also revealed. "And you talk in your sleep."

"I do not!" She laughed, punching him hard in his arm. The force caused him to stumble to the side slightly, rubbing the sore spot through his shirt while sharing in her laughter, enjoying the moment of peace, especially after the near death experience with the walker just before. However, in the unfamiliar town with danger around them, the three were soon forced to keep quiet, the car visible just ahead of them.

Walkers had made their way between them and the vehicle. However, the group was only small, small enough that David and Ava were able to handle them on their own, and so he moved closer with bat in hand, noticing Ava moving to the other side of the group with the large kitchen knife in hand, unwilling to risk drawing more with the noise of her gun. Mariana kept away, watching with a scared look on her face, but kept quiet and let the adults deal with the problem. Swinging the bat backwards, the walker that was closest to David could only move forward with a growl before the solid wooden weapon whacked against its skull.

A sickening crack rang through the air, the blood splattering onto the side of David's face as he watched the walker collapse to the ground, on death's door as it tried to lift its head, only for the grown man to throw the end of the bat down with all his might, cracking the corpse's skull and causing it to cease all movement. With the blood pooling underneath it, he moved on as the other walkers noticed his presence. Ava used this distraction to stab a walker at the back of the group, her knife piercing through the back of its head with efficiency. The growls silenced, the body collapsing to the ground as Ava planted her foot on its back, pulling the knife out quickly before moving on to the next.

While she attacked them from behind, David backed away slowly with the walkers advancing on him, his eyes darting around to try and keep track of their movements. Pulling the bat back again, he stood his ground when one of the walkers moved out of the group, and was prominently met with the bat to the top of the head, the survivor trying to fight the urge to vomit with the smell. While he was distracted, he suddenly heard a cry of panic behind him, turning his head to see that a walker snuck up behind them, stumbling towards Mariana as she just backed away quickly, stumbling over her own feet and falling to the ground with a frightened scream. "Daddy!"

"Mariana!" He yelled, feeling his heart stop as his feet took control of their own. Running forward, he held the handle of the bat tightly, staring in horror as the walker fell on top of his daughter, though it didn't have a chance to bite her when he swung the bat at its head, the force he put behind it sending the undead flying off onto its back, David on it in seconds and bashing its brains in.

He couldn't stop, he was seeing red. The fear and realisation of how close he was to losing Mariana hit him deep, and he took his anger and guilt for failing to protect her out on its corpse, unable to stop until its head was a pile of mush. Suddenly, hands gripped his shirt, pulling him away while Ava's voice snapped at him. "David, calm dow-!"

He pushed her away, using too much force and causing her to stumble backwards. Mariana sat on the ground, watching the scene with a horrified expression on her face, blood having splattered over her face and her jacket when David whacked the walker off her. Feeling the guilt built up, he rushed over to the child's side, quickly picking her up into his arms and muttering to her. "Shhh, mija. I'm here, it's gone."

"I-It tried to attack me…" She stammered, burying her face into David's shoulder as she wept quietly, her father placing a hand on her back and rubbing it soothingly, glancing over at Ava with a worried frown. She stood there, having recovered from being shoved by him just before, and watched as he comforted the frightened little girl, sympathy clear in her eyes as she looked at the corpses littering the ground around them.

"It's alright, Mari." She whispered, walking over to David's shoulder and looking at the child, Mariana moving her head so she could see the grown woman. Softly, Ava wiped the blood from her face with her sleeve, making sure that it was clean before putting her hand down, turning slightly to look at David. "Come on, the others will be wondering where we've gone."

Nodding, he followed after her to the car, moving to the back seat with Mariana in his arms and opened the door. Slowly, he placed her in the back seat, frowning deeply when she held her small hands grip onto his shirt, almost desperate to never be separated from him again, and he worried about how that incident had affected his daughter. Gently, he pried her hands off his shirt, watching as she stared at him closing the door, terrified of the walkers that were roaming around in the town. They had no time for him to comfort her however, as more walkers started shuffling around in the distance, Ava watching with worry before she got into the driver's seat.

Getting into the car as well, David glanced at the approaching danger before Ava started the car, driving off down the road and leaving the scene behind them. She drove carefully, keeping an eye on anything that could wander into the middle of the road, and when they turned the corner, he spotted the truck waiting for them. Carissa and Alexis were sitting in the back, making sure that the supplies didn't fall out, and when the former noticed the car coming towards them, she smacked the top of the truck's roof to signal Axel to drive on. Ava slowed the car slightly, following after the truck as it lurched forward, David watching as Carissa held onto her sister tightly, making sure that the other woman didn't fall off the back of the vehicle.

The inside of the car was silent. Ava tapped her fingers against of the steering wheel, concentrating on the road as David just stared out of the window. Raising one of his hands to his face, he stared with a somber glint in his eyes when he pulled his fingers back, spotting the blood staining his skin. With a deep sigh, he allowed his hand to fall to his lap, listening as Ava spoke up. "What went on back there?"

He didn't reply. Honestly, he couldn't think of a reason for what he did. He just did it. After a few moments of waiting, she realised that he wasn't going to speak and went on explaining with a slight scared tone. "You got the walker off Mari, but you didn't stop. You just… bashed its brains in. What's going on, David?"

"I lost my cool, that's all…" He grumbled back, unable to bring himself to look at Ava when she turned her head, staring at him before she looked back at the road.

"You seem to be doing that a lot, lately. I'm worried about you." She confessed. David was surprised to hear that, finally looking at Ava with raised eyebrows as she continued. "Look, you don't have to talk. I get it that sometimes, you just can't control your temper, but I need to know that what happened before won't happen again. Next time, there might still be danger around, and I need you to stay sharp."

"I hear you." He replied quietly, ending the conversation there as he looked out of the window. The buildings passed by, and soon they reached the highway, the buildings disappearing with a thick cover of trees replacing them. His arms crossed over his chest, the grown man leaning comfortably into his chair, but he was feeling anything but comfortable. He felt conflicted, relieved that he had found somewhere safe for the group, but at the same time, he didn't know what to make of the people who found him, nor the people he would meet once they reached the city.

Glancing up in the rearview mirror, he noticed that Mariana had put her headphones on, listening to her walkman as she just stared at the back of his seat, her legs brought up so that they were crossed on the seat rather than dangling. She didn't try to meet his gaze in the mirror, it actually seemed like she was avoiding it, he sighed and slowly looked away once more. Ava kept quiet, focusing on the road ahead while the silence became thick within the car. It was almost suffocating. Uncrossing his arms, he instead rested his hands on his lap, glancing over at the other woman as he spoke up. "What'd you think of this Charleston?"

"I don't know. It sounds pretty safe, and we'll be with other people. I don't know about you, but I hate living on my own." She shrugged, staring at Alexis and Carissa sitting in the back of the truck. "Is it just me or did Alexis seem… afraid of that guy. What was his name, Axel?"

"You noticed it too." He grumbled, watching as Ava nodded with a saddened frown.

"Maybe we should avoid that guy. The others are pretty nice, though." She pointed out, optimism for their new home laced in her words.

David smiled at her optimism, finding that it pushed away his own doubts, and chuckled deeply while responding to her hope. "Yeah… maybe."

"Anyway, it shouldn't take long to get there. Let's just enjoy the quiet we got for now." She suggested, falling silent after that while David seemed to agree with her. Rather, he stared at the women sitting in the back of the truck ahead of them, unsure what to make of Carissa as she glanced away from Alexis, her sister too far away from the car for him to properly see her expressions, though he couldn't help but flinch when the truck went over a large pothole, the two survivors bracing themselves and making sure the supplies didn't fall off.

When they settled back down, he relaxed back into his seat. The once uncomfortable silence had changed, and looking down the long road ahead, he found himself somewhat eager to see his new home. Soon, he could see the outline of a large tower block, the highway flowing into the city, and sitting up, he glanced over at Ava to see her visibly excited to see the community. The truck in front of them slowed as they entered the city, Ava following after them as he stared out of the window. The tall buildings around them were boarded up, the doors leading in barricaded to stop anything from getting in.

Mariana noticed the change in scenery, lowering her headphones as she peered out of the window, glancing over at the adults in the front seats while asking them. "Where are we?"

As soon as she asked them that, he noticed that the truck had stopped in front of a blocked wall, watching with a raised eyebrow as Alexis and Carissa jumped off the back of the vehicle, the former gesturing for the others to leave the car. Glancing over at Ava, they both shared a confused look before opening their door, David moving to the back door and opening it, moving to pick Mariana up when she just jumped out, electing to walk rather than have him carry her. He watched as she moved to Ava's side, the grown woman allowing her to hold her hand before looking over at David.

He just shrugged, she just needed some space, but he couldn't help that pang of guilt and pain from hitting him in the middle of his chest. Closing the door, he followed after the rest of his group as they moved near Alexis, the latter stopping in front of Ava while her friends took care of carrying the supplies. With a grin, she gestured to the wall and welcomed them. "Welcome to Charleston!"

"It's a wall." Mariana pointed out, falling quiet when Ava stared down at her disapprovingly, though her response caused Alexis to laugh heartily at it.

"She ain't wrong." She giggled, before calming herself down enough to gesture for them to follow her, explaining further as they walked towards the wall. "We blocked up all streets leading into this part of town with anything we could find. We get in through the gate this way."

With Axel and Jordan leading the group, David kept to the back, glancing down at Mariana occasionally to see that she didn't even try to look at him, he wanted to say something, even scold her for behavior if it was necessary, yet he decided to stay quiet, knowing it would make things worse. The guilt increased as his chest constricted painfully, and when they reached the gate leading into the walled off block, he stared at it with mild disappointment. With the plague only having gone on into a few weeks, the gate was beside the large river flowing through the city, a large locked gate that led into the front part of the shop next to it.

Beside the gate was a guard, the survivor noticing the group coming towards the gate and unlocking it. Quickly, he pulled it open, gesturing for them to come through while glancing around behind them, on the lookout for any walkers that would sneak up on them. Axel and Jordan were the first in, followed by Carissa, Alexis and David's group, with the gate being shut and locked once everyone was inside. Jordan paused in walking, turning to Alexis as he suggested. "We can take the supplies to storage. You wanna take David and Ava up to meet Maria?"

"Sure. Up for a game of euchre afterwards?" She asked, smiling when Jordan nodded in response, before she turned to David, Ava and Mariana. "Come on, all newcomers have gotta be checked off by Maria and Stephen before they are put to work."

"What do you do here, then?" Ava asked, following after the female survivor with David by her side, Mariana still holding tightly onto her hand.

"I'm a scout." Alexis revealed, looking around the small block as they made their way over to a tall tower block, explaining in further detail as they walked through the door leading into the building. "I go out and find supplies, people, and also keep track of the walkers. We managed to deal with the danger surrounding us, but more always wander by, especially out of the large cities."

"That sounds scary." Mariana piped up, though she seemed to be in awe with the amount of people that lived in the tower block. Alexis looked behind her at the child, flashing a comforting smile which Mari returned brightly. While they conversed, David looked around to see what his new home would be like. They were in what would have been the foyer, the chair off in the waiting area already taken by other survivors, the grown adults conversing with each other while children played at their feet.

"It can be, but I'm brave enough for it. Someone's gotta go out and find the food these people need." She pointed out, moving her gaze from the young girl to the people that were sitting around, a couple of children running past them giggling, playing some sort of game from what David could make out. Passing by the front desk situated in the middle of the room, they carried down to the double doors by a couple of lifts.

Alexis pushed the door open, walking through before waiting by it, keeping it open so that David and the others could get through. Moving past her, he listened as she added. "Besides, I'm glad I was able to bring a group back alive…"

Her voice dropped at that, causing Ava and David to stare at her with concern, but before they could ask her if she was alright, she forced a smile back on her face and brushed the moment off. "But, hey, I'm sure you guys'll like Maria. She's pretty… religious, but she's nice! She's not one of those zealot types."

"You mentioned someone else. Stephen, what's he like?" Ava asked, following after Alexis as she led them up the staircase. Glancing up the space between the flights of stairs, he groaned under his breath at the sheer number of them, but kept going without complaint as the group made their way up them.

"Oh, he's a bit strict, but he's only like that so everyone is safe and fed. He's like a second in command to Maria, but she's the one who makes the rules. He just tells her if they're stupid or not." She joked, laughing to herself while David and Ava glanced at each other, the latter shaking her head with a smirk playing at her lips.

"Sounds like my kinda guy." David replied, liking the idea of Stephen as he added. "Someone who's willing to get things done. Practical."

"Careful, it sounds like you're getting a crush on him." Alexis snickered, her joke causing Ava to snort slightly as the both of them laughed at the thought of it. David glared at them, though his expression softened when he saw Mariana giggling with them, obviously finding the joke just as funny as the adults did.

He decided to give them that one, quietly muttering under his breath. "Fuckers."

They continued to converse while going up the stairs. Eventually, they reached the top floor, Alexis pausing in front of the double doors. David and Ava paused behind her, waiting with clear confusion on their face, before she turned around to them and suggested. "You two should go in. I can take Mariana down to meet the other kids, see if she can make some friends."

"I want to keep her near me." David rejected, ignoring Ava's stares as he added. "She's my daughter, and she doesn't like being away from us."

Mariana kept quiet, instead allowing the adults to talk things out, though she kept holding Ava's hand rather than move over to Alexis, showing some hesitation in leaving her father and friend's sides. The scout was flustered with the rejection, but David stood his ground stubbornly. He didn't know her well enough, and he didn't know anyone in Charleston at all. However, Ava went against his wishes as she gave her thoughts on the matter. "Maybe this will be good for her. Maria doesn't need to talk to a child, this is for us."

Slowly, she turned to Mariana, the child staring up at her as she asked the child what she wanted. "What'd you wanna do, Mari?"

She didn't reply to the question. Rather, she moved her stares over to Alexis, appearing unsure what she wanted to do after seeing David's annoyed face, the grown man frustrated that Ava didn't take his side in the matter. Mariana was his daughter, and he decided where she went with her being his sole responsibility. Quietly, she muttered to Ava. "I wanna go with Alexis..."

"Okay, that's fine. You can go with Alexis if you want to." She replied calmly, allowing Alexis to take hold of Mariana's hand. Before the older woman could guide the child away from the doors, Ava turned to Mariana, smiling in an attempt to comfort her, Mariana clearly showing the nervousness she was feeling with being separated from her and David. Softly, Ava whispered to her. "Go on, your dad and I won't be long."

She listened, walking back down the stairs with Alexis by her side, sparing one last glance at Ava and David before she disappeared from sight. Without her there, David turned to Ava, a deep frown on his face as he snapped. "The hell are you playing at?!"

"Look, Mariana didn't need to be in this meeting. She's just a kid, David, it's better that she's with kids her own age than being forced into situations for adults." She explained, adopting a stern tone as she added. "And I don't know if you've noticed, but your actions back in Ripley's scared her. She doesn't want to go near you in case you lose your cool like that again."

The truth hurt him deep. He knew that Mariana didn't look at him the same, she saw him batter a walker's skull in, even though it attacked her. Seeing someone you love lose their cool that badly, at such a young age, it must have been difficult for her to comprehend how she felt with that. Ava noticed his fallen expression, placing a hand on his shoulder as she offered him a comforting smile. "Talk to her, and try to control your temper. You don't want her growing up to be afraid of you."

"Are you afraid of me?" He suddenly asked, catching her off-guard as she blinked, surprise reflecting in her widened eyes.

Slowly, however, that surprise faded away and she shook her head, answering his question in a quiet tone. "No, I'm not afraid of you. I'm worried for you."

Her confession caused some of that doubt to melt away, but he could feel it still linger, persisting in the back of his mind. However, he pushed it away when Ava moved past him, opening the door and walking through, the taller survivor following after her. The inside of the room was spacious, looking like it was once an office block, and instead the small cubbies had been removed with chairs being lined in rows, a long aisle going between them and leading to the front part of the office, the windows letting in all the sunlight that highlighted the room. At the front of the room, two survivors sat in chairs, unknowing of the other's presences as Ava glanced at David nervously, before making her way towards them.

Listening carefully, he heard the woman laugh, staring at her as he walked behind Ava. She was pretty, with shortly chopped, black hair and bronzed skin, she leaned forward in her chair, her arms resting on her knees as she conversed with the man that had his back to them. Green eyes glanced over to Ava and David, a bright smile on her face as she stood up, straightening out her blue sweater and black sleeveless jacket to make herself look presentable. With the newcomers pausing at the front chairs, she finished messing with her clothes and looked up at them, moving forward and offering her hand.

"Hello, I didn't know we had new people coming." She smiled, shaking Ava's hand when the latter took the gesture, glancing between them as she introduced herself. "I am Maria, the leader of Charleston. I hope you two had gotten here alright. If you don't mind me asking, is it just the two of you?"

"No, David's daughter, Mariana, is downstairs with one of your scouts. I'm Ava, by the way." Ava explained, releasing Maria's hand with a small smile as the other woman turned to David.

"Welcome to Charleston, David. How old's your daughter?" She asked, showing a genuine interest in the missing child as she offered her hand to the grown man.

Accepting the gesture, he shook her hand gently, letting go after a few seconds as he replied. "She's six. Thanks for accepting us into your community."

"Don't thank me, David. I'm not the only one who keeps this community running, and all of God's children are welcome here." She explained, turning to the man sitting down as she scolded. "Stephen, don't be rude. Introduce yourself to David and Ava."

Stephen sighed quietly, standing up as David noticed that he was carrying a baby in his arms, the small infant wrapped in a thick blanket with its pudgy face appearing peaceful. The other man looked around David's age, sporting heavy stubble around his mouth and along his jawline, his black hair having grown out into a mullet with some strands sticking out wildly. Softly, he comforted the baby as it made some noises, keeping it close to his faded blue jacket before he finally spoke up. "Is it just the three of you then?"

"Yeah, we ran into your scouts in a small town up north." David nodded, glancing down at the baby in his arms as he smiled. "That's a cute baby."

"Isn't he just, his name's Micah." Stephen introduced, looking down at his son with softened features. Slowly, he glanced back at the newcomers, and quickly apologised. "I'm sorry if I came across as rude. There's just some people out there that I don't trust."

"You ran into trouble before?" Ava asked, standing there as Stephen turned his gaze to her, a deep frown on his face as he nodded grimly.

"Some people have seen some shit these past few weeks. Losing people, it changes someone a lot, and those changes aren't good. We try to keep the peace here in Charleston, so we ask that you both do your jobs and keep your nose out of trouble." He ordered, allowing Maria to take over introductions as she carried on the explanations.

"We're pretty lenient however, so I don't want you guys thinking that we're all rules and no fun. If you guys did anything useful in the past, like your jobs, we could benefit from knowing that." She elaborated, waiting for Ava and David to reply with a warm smile. David couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something about her that was familiar, something that made him feel that he could trust her.

Eased into it, he gestured to the woman standing next to him and revealed. "Both Ava and I were in the army before all this started. I retired a few years ago, though."

"In the army? That's excellent, we're in need of trained soldiers to help with the guards here." Maria replied enthusiastically, turning to Stephen as she instructed him. "It'd be best if Ava and David here were put under your patrol. See if they can give some advice to the guards."

"You guys can have the rest of the day to settle in, but then I'll be putting you to work tomorrow morning." He explained to the two survivors. David and Ava nodded in response, before Micah's loud whimpering brought the adults' attention to the infant as it cried in his father's arms. Stephen moved away from them, comforting the baby with soft words and gentle swaying, while Maria gestured for David and Ava to follow her to the door. They obeyed, leaving Stephen behind to calm Micah down.

While walking, she turned her head to look at them, explaining in a cheerful tone. "You two and Mariana will have the room at the end of the third floor. I hope you'll find the room to be fine?"

"It beats sleeping in the car." Ava joked, earning a small laugh from the other woman as David just smiled, pleased that they would sleep in actual beds rather than in the uncomfortable seats back in their car. Once they reached the door, Maria opened it for them, allowing the two survivors to walk through as she stood there, keeping the door open with her foot.

"Enjoy the rest of your day. God bless you." She smiled, nodding at them before she closed the door behind her. David and Ava stood there for a few moments, the former feeling somewhat better after meeting the leader, though he was frustrated with the niggling sensation in the back of his mind. He was unsure who she reminded him of, but he knew that he saw those eyes before, that same cheerful tone in her voice, and the kindness left David smiling as he thought about it.

"Well, she's pretty nice." He heard Ava muse, turning to see her smiling softly at him. "Let's go and find Mariana. She'll be happy to hear that we got actual beds to sleep in tonight."

"Yeah, let's go." David agreed, following Ava down the flights of stairs slowly, enjoying the calm air around them. It was preferable to being outside the community, unsure what danger they would run into. However, the more he thought about the feeling of uncertainty he had, the more he began to realise what Maria reminded him of. Keeping his face calm to avoid worrying Ava, he couldn't stop his heart aching when he realised who he was thinking of when he first saw the leader.

Maria reminded him of his first wife.

The last time he came home from the army. Retiring from the job he loved dearly, he stood in front of the house he called home for years, staring at the window as he spotted someone walking past it, unknowing of his presence as he smiled warmly. He loved his job, but the thought of walking through that door and welcoming his family, it was the one thing that kept him going all throughout his tour. Taking in a deep breath, he walked up the path leading to the front door, his heavy army boots thudding with each step as he fought back that nervousness. It had been a whole year since he saw his children, his wife, and he missed them all dearly.

Reaching the front door, he paused, his smile widening when he heard Gabriel call loudly from somewhere inside the house, his hand moving towards the doorknob as he opened it, peering inside before walking in. The sound of the door opening alerted his wife, the grown woman calling out from the hallway. "Salvador? Are you back with the groceries already?"

Closing the door behind him, David kept quiet with his smile on his face, grinning when his wife came into view. The sight of him standing there caused her to freeze, her eyes widening in shock as she dropped the pile of clothes that she was carrying, David standing there as she suddenly rushed forward, throwing her arms around him as she cried. "David! I can't believe you're home!"

"It's good to see you, Laura." He replied softly, holding his wife in his arms as she shoved her face into his neck, afraid that if she'd let go, he would disappear again. Leaving her with two children to look after, he couldn't help but feel guilty about that, but he was there now. "How've the children been?"

"Gabe's missed you. Every night he'd ask me when you were coming home." Laura explained, finally releasing David from her grip as she backed away slightly, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand as she laughed hoarsely. "Mari's been putting a brave face, but I can tell that she's been missing you, too."

"She's my strong little girl." He beamed, eager to reunite with his children when he saw Gabe peering from behind the door frame, having heard the voices talking from his room.

When he saw his father standing there, his face brightened up and he ran out, rushing over to David as the grown man kneeled down, wrapping his arms around the young boy while he shouted loudly. "Dad!"

Chuckling deeply, David found himself quickly attacked by Mariana, the small child having followed after her brother when they heard the noises, small arms wrapping around his neck as he swung his arm around her, bringing both of his children into a tight hug. With both of them in his arms, he was pleased to be home, unable to let go of either one of his kids while Laura watched with a softened gaze, crossing her arms as he spared her a glance, instead listening as Gabe explained. "Dad, I played baseball with Uncle Javi when he came down! I won!"

"Hey, that's great, buddy." David replied, allowing Gabe to move back as he stood up, picking Mariana up in his arms as he turned to look at her. "How've you been, mija?"

"Good…" She replied softly, smiling when David held her close, ecstatic that her father had come home. Gabe stood there with a bright grin on his face, eager to share all his stories with David as he grabbed hold of his hand, pulling him towards the hallway as he explained.

"You gotta see the drawings me and Mari did while you were gone. Mom says they're really good!" He rambled, earning a deep laugh from the grown man as he allowed the short boy to pull him along, glancing over his shoulder at Laura. His wife stood there, shaking her head with a smirk on her lips, before she went to pick up the clothes that she dropped in shock, coughing quietly to herself as that smirk fell. David was confused with her change of expression, though he would have to bring it up later as Gabe pulled him away from her.

Thinking back to that moment as he walked down the stairs with Ava, he wished he returned home sooner.


	6. Troubles Beneath The Waters

"I wanna go with Alexis." Mariana didn't know why she disobeyed what her father wanted, and started to regret the decision when David frowned deeply at it, feeling guilty about it, but that didn't change the fact that she wanted to explore her new home. There were other people there, other children. She had a chance to make friends after spending weeks with just David and Ava, trapped in a car. Alexis was nice, nicer than her other companions save Jordan. With the hand guiding her away, down the stairs to meet the other people, the young child couldn't bring herself to look at David's saddened face before he and Ava disappeared from sight.

Walking down the stairs, she could hear the hushed argument between her carers, unable to stop her face from falling as the words grew quieter and quieter, before she could no longer hear them. Her expressions didn't go unnoticed, as she heard Alexis quietly comfort her. "You alright, kid?"

"Yeah." She lied, staring straight ahead in fear that Alexis would figure out her true feelings. The older woman likely could see that something was bothering her, but decided to let it go, instead shrugging as the both of them made their way down the flights of stairs. Their footsteps echoed through the emptiness, and soon, Alexis paused by a door leading into one of the floors, Mariana close by her side as the adult opened the door. Inside, she could see grown up sitting on chairs, talking to each other, some of the children colouring by their feet.

Spotting the children, Mariana felt nervous slowly overwhelm her, unsure how to go and ask if she could join in, and rather moved closer to Alexis as both of them walked closer to the group. The children were too engrossed in their activities to notice the new arrival, but their parents glanced up from their conversation, offering the small girl comforting smiles as she moved further behind Alexis' legs. Softly, her temporary carer muttered to one of the adults. "This is Mariana. She just came in here with some others, but would it be alright if I leave her here with you guys?"

"She's more than welcome to sit with us." One of the women agreed, leaning forward to see Mari as she added. "Do you wanna colour with us, sweetheart?"

Nodding silently, the young girl moved from behind Alexis' legs and instead kneeled down beside one of the children; a girl who looked older than her, with pale, freckled skin and fiery red hair plaited. She was busy colouring, but she listened when the same woman who asked Mariana if she wanted to join touched her shoulder, quietly asking the child. "Grace, share your crayons with Mariana, okay?"

"Okay, mom." Grace replied, turning to Mariana as she noticed the smaller child's jacket, a bright smile on her face as she complimented her. "I like your jacket!"

"Thanks." Mariana smiled back, looking down at the half coloured picture with her fingers fiddling with the bottom of her jacket. Grace noticed her uneasiness around them, turning back to her own picture as she grabbed another piece of paper, passing it over to Mari along with a packet of crayons between them, turning so that she was facing the other girl more than the other children around them. They showed no interest in them, only small toddlers scribbling on their papers while in their own little world. The adults behind them continued to talk to one another, pleased that their children were busy with their own thing and giving them a break.

Mariana took a green crayon, the idea of what she wanted to draw held in her mind as she scribbled on the paper, careful not to tear it with any rough strokes. However, when she glanced over to the doors leading to the stairs, she saw that Alexis was nowhere in sight, the uneasiness building as neither her temporary carer or David and Ava were anywhere near her. Rather, she was surrounded by strangers. Glancing around nervously, she turned back to Grace when the older child asked her. "So, how old are you?

"Six…" She revealed, watching as Grace's smile widened.

"I'm nine! What's your favourite colour?" She continued to question, showing a curiosity in Mariana that even the adults didn't show, rather letting the kids to carry on with whatever they were doing. "Mine's blue, like my jacket!"

"I like pink the best." She laughed, feeling that uneasiness melt away as the other girl joined in with her laughter, both of them going back to drawing as Mariana slowly asked her. "What're you drawing?"

"My cat. He's called Smokey." She responded, picking the picture up to show Mari. A poorly drawn cat, coloured in black, was standing beside a drawn Grace in a blue dress. Staring at it, the younger girl listened as her friend mumbled. "He ran away just before mom brought me here. She said he'll be fine, but I miss him."

"I like cats. My dad's allergic, though. I'd like a black one, too." Mari confessed, recalling the incident where David came across a stray that she had been feeding, his watery eyes and constant sneezing would have been funny if she didn't feel bad for causing that for him. Her mom told her to stop interacting with the strays for both David's and her health, considering strays usually carried all sorts of diseases. She listened, but she missed playing with the cats that came into her garden.

Grace smiled at that, and carried on colouring in her picture, both of the young girls sitting in silence while hushed whispers carried on behind them. She kept quiet and listened. Used to hiding and listening, even before the monsters came, she pretended as if she couldn't hear their worried words, the uneasiness the adults felt over what was happening outside their walls. Grace didn't show any of that wariness that Mariana was feeling, the child older than her, but didn't seem to understand what was going on. It was alright, Mariana didn't really understand it either, and it felt nice to simply talk and draw with other children, rather than surviving with adults.

Staring down at her drawing, she paused, sitting up straight as she placed the green crayon on the floor, grabbing a brown and starting to colour in the people in her picture. For a moment, she glanced out of the window, noticing the distant buildings, the windows boarded up and the clouds forming a thick, grey blanket across the sky. It was dreary. Looking back at her drawing, she carried on in silence, enjoying the time she was spending with Grace. Soon, the child beside her piped up again. "Mom, when do we eat? I'm starving."

"We get dinner soon, darling. You'll have to wait until then." Her mother replied softly, glancing over at Mariana as she asked the child. "How're you doing, Mariana?"

"I'm fine." She lied, feeling her stomach constrict painfully, growling out loudly in hunger. She hadn't eaten anything save that candy bar that morning, and she was eager for dinner to hurry up and come. The mother seemed unconvinced with her lying, and her voice dropped to a tender tone as she continued to question the girl.

"You here with your parents?" She asked, looking down at the picture that Mari was drawing. "Is that them?"

She had finished colouring the people in, and had started to draw the clothes. David, Kate, Gabe and Mari were all standing in a park, enjoying a picnic that she remembered helping Kate make, and looking down at the smiling faces, she couldn't stop her lip quivering and the tears pricking in the corners of her eyes. A small hiccup came from her as she tried to wipe the tears away, but her actions caught the attention from all the women as Grace's mother picked Mari up, sitting her in the adult's laps as she calmed her down. "Hey there, don't cry. What's the matter?"

"I want my mom." She confessed, continuing to wipe away the tears that kept welling in her eyes, some falling down her face as she sniffed quietly. Laura knew how to make her daughter happy even when she was sad, and always she repeated the teaching her mom taught her in her head, more often over these past few weeks that she was on the road. It made her mom happy when she smiled, but she also taught Mari that sometimes it was alright to be sad. It meant people could help you. Sometimes, she wasn't able to stay strong on her own, and it hurt more knowing that her mom wasn't there to stand by her.

"Okay, where is she?" The woman asked, her kind words only hurting Mariana more as the tears continued, her face scrunching up in grief and pain as Grace stared at her worryingly, unsure what to do or say to help her new friend.

"...She's gone." Her voice dropped to a whisper, but the adult holding her visibly stiffened when she was told the truth, showing the guilt of forcing Mari through that pain on her face. Rather than say anything, she held the child close, slowly rocking her in an attempt to lull the weeping girl. The feeling of arms around her gave Mariana that security, just how she felt like when David held her close. Safe. Warm. She didn't want to leave that warmth, and when she saw the door open and her father walking in with Ava by his side, she couldn't help but stiffen slightly.

The feeling inside her was confusing. She was afraid, but guilty of being scared. David was her father. He wouldn't lash out at her, he never did, but knowing what he can be like when he loses his temper, she didn't want to be near him when he did. She felt hands grip onto her jacket tightly, the woman holding her feeling the child stiffen as they both stare at the approaching man. David paused, confused and concerned when he saw the tear stains on his daughter's face, kneeling down in front of her as he asked, his voice dropping to a low tone. "Mariana, what's wrong?"

Mariana didn't answer. She didn't want to bring up her mother, she knew that her dad missed her as much as she did. Instead, Grace's mother answered for her. "She told me that she misses her mom. The poor thing's pretty shook up."

The mention of Laura caused David to frown deeply, still staring at Mariana as she averted her gaze to anywhere but him. Gently, he took her from the woman's arms, holding her close as he muttered to her. "I know you miss her, mija. I do too…"

"Do you wanna see your new room, kid?" Ava asked, trying to lighten the mood as she appeared in front of Mariana, offering the mourning child a small smile. The thought of her own room again, sleeping in an actual bed rather than the back of a car, brought a smile to her face as she nodded silently.

"Thanks for keeping an eye on her." David spoke up to Grace's mother, smiling slightly with gratefulness clear on his face as she passed him the picture that Mariana made. She nodded in response, though she was wary from Mariana's reaction to his appearance before. If he had noticed her change in expression, he did not comment on it, and rather turned around to leave for their room. Mariana peered over his shoulder as they left, waving goodbye to Grace as she enthusiastically waved back, a grin on her face before she carried on colouring.

"You excited, kid?" Mariana heard Ava question her, glancing back to see the grown woman holding the door open so that David could walk through. Closing the door once they were through, she followed after him as they all made their way down the stairs, staring up at Mariana as the young child rested her chin on the grown man's shoulder. "Comfy beds tonight, and we can hang up the picture that you drew, yeah?"

"I'd like that." She agreed, already feeling better, and earning a warm grin from her friend before she turned her attention to David.

"You alright, man? You were pretty quiet when we left the top floor." She wondered, causing the male survivor to turn his head and glance at her with a small smile. Mariana glanced at him, wondering what was wrong with him before he brushed Ava's worries off.

"Yeah, I'm just tired." It was clear from the bags under his eyes that he was telling the truth, the young girl in his arms rubbing her eyes when she felt the same tiredness wash over her. She didn't know how long had passed since she woke up, but after the incident with Ava and the walker, along with David's outburst, she just wanted to go to her room and nap. David noticed her actions as he looked at her, giving the child a small smile as he whispered. "You tired, mija?"

"Yeah…" she mumbled, leaning her chin against his shoulder again as she stared at Ava walking behind them, her eyelids growing heavier the longer they walked. Soon, they stopped walking down the stairs, rather David opening the door that led into one of the floors with Ava right behind them, letting the door shut by itself as they kept moving down a corridor. None of them said anything, all visibly exhausted and happy to be in safety rather than on the road. Slowly, David opened the door leading into their room, Mariana glancing over her shoulder to look inside with excitement bubbling in her stomach.

She didn't know what the room was used before, but she could tell from the mattresses on the floor that it wasn't a bedroom before. Still, it looked more comfy than the back of the car, and when David placed her down on the ground, she walked further in the room while the adults looked around. Standing on the mattress by the window, she could clearly see the river flowing through in the distance, the walls around the small section of Charleston blocking everything from the outside. Stretching, she glanced down the window and immediately regretted her decision, noticing how high up the third floor was. Backing away, she heard a drawer being opened and Ava calling out to her.

"Hey, kid?" she started, waiting for Mariana to turn to her, noticing a roll of tape in her hand, before she continued. "How about we hang up your picture, huh? Make this place feel a bit more like ours."

"That sounds good." David agreed, handing Mariana her drawing with a warm smile. "Go and do that with Ava while I unpack all of our stuff."

"Okay." She nodded, taking the picture from him and moving closer to Ava, deciding to take the mattress pressed against the wall opposite to the window. Undoing a strand of tape, Ava's hands guided Mariana's smaller ones in placing the drawing, holding the strand of tape between her teeth before both of them were happy were the picture was. Taping it in place, Mariana smiled as she moved off the mattress again, staring at the people in the drawing with her smile faltering.

Ava stared at it, only glancing at Mariana for a moment before ruffling her hair affectionately. "Looks pretty good, Mari. You do anymore and we can put them up with that one, how about it?"

"Cool!" She agreed, her smile returning as a wide grin when Ava returned the gesture. Shuffling could be heard from behind them, both of the survivors glancing back to see David rummaging through Mariana's bag, his hand pulling out with what was revealed to be batteries.

Walking towards a file cabinet, he turned to his daughter with the batteries in hand. "If your walkman runs out, mija, there's spare batteries in here."

She nodded in response, feeling that fear slowly disappear as David just kept packing away their things, the baseball bat he took from their home propped up against the wall, near the door, stained with dry blood. A fragment of that feeling still gripped her, but she felt better than she did before, and with the thought of sleeping easy tonight making her smile, she turned back to Ava as the grown woman yawned. Stretching her arms, she picked Mariana up and sat down on the mattress, letting the child sit in her lap as she mumbled. "I'm exhausted. How about we take a nap until dinner, kid?"

"Alright..." She yawned back, feeling the exhaustion hit her fully as her eyelids dropped. Ava balanced her on her knee, working to removing the shoes from her small feet before tossing them against the wall, placing Mariana on the mattress as she worked unlacing her army boots. Crawling closer to the wall, the child removed her bunny jacket, allowing Ava to take it as she laid down on the comfy bed, staring at the wall with an unwavering gaze as she listened to Ava sighing in relief, the heavy thud of boots being tossed casually on the floor before the mattress sank under her weight.

It was too warm to use the blanket. Instead, the two laid on the mattress, Mariana listening as David finished packing the stuff away and sit down on the other mattress, curious and unsure about what he was doing. Soon, however, her eyes closed fully and she drifted off into her dreams, the warmth on her back disappearing slowly.

Her dreams pictured a simple time, the feeling of a cool breeze on her bare shoulders, her favourite pink dress and green fields rolling in the winds. She ran with her brother, laughter and chatter loud in the air as they played tag, hide and seek, any game that would entertain them until Kate got the food ready. She could see her and David sitting on a blanket, actually getting on civilly for once, rather than arguing and shouting that she was so used to.

The smell of freshly cut grass wafted into her nose when she tumbled over, rolling down the hill with Gabe as both of them giggled loudly. She enjoyed the feeling of the the cold winds and the hot sun, laying there before David asked both of them to get up, not wanting either of them ruining their clothes. The food they had, it made her stomach growl and yearn for that taste again. Kate was a good cook, as was her dad, and she enjoyed the meals they cooked for her and Gabe at home. As she sat there, munching away on a sandwich while Gabe and David play fought in the grass, she could remember Kate's laughter, the smile on her face, and it was then that she realised that she may never hear that laugh again, see that bright grin on her step mother's face again.

Her dreams collapsed around her, a hand shaking her awake and dragging the child away from the good memories. Slowly, her eyes opened and saw the same wall she was staring at, her chest constricting painfully as she knew those dreams were just that. Dreams. Turning around, she saw that the hand that was stirring her awake belonged to Ava, the woman looking like she had only just woken up herself. Retracting her hand, Mariana sat up as her friend explained. "Time to wake up, we don't want you sleeping too much otherwise it's gonna be a pain to sleep later."

"What time is it?" The young child asked, rubbing her eyes before glancing up at the window. The grey clouds had gone, rather the bright blue replacing it with few white clouds rolling by and the sun shining brightly, bathing the room in a warm glow.

Ava stood up, grabbing her shoes from where she had tossed them before and slipped them on, doing a half-hearted job of tying her shoelaces before leaving them be. Hands on hips, brown eyes half closed with tiredness, she glanced over at the window and shrugged. "Dunno, around three I'd say. You wanna take a look around Charleston, kid?"

She nodded enthusiastically, before glancing down at a sleeping David, snoring loudly and with a book sprawled over his face as Ava quickly piped up, walking closer to Mari with a gentle smile. "I'd leave him alone. He's still pretty tired, but we can still do stuff. Come on, it'll be fun."

With a final glance at her sleeping father, she turned to her shoes by the bed, slipping them on and attempting to do the laces herself, though it was somewhat difficult for her. In the background, she could hear Ava chuckle deeply before kneeling in front of her, taking the laces in both hands before glancing up at her. "Here, I'll show you."

Looping the two laces, she held them as she continued tying the laces, explaining with an amused tone to her voice. "So, you loop them so they look a bit like bunny ears, and then you cross them like this… and there you go!"

"Next time, I'll try it myself!" Mariana suggested, a smile on her face as Ava returned the affectionate gesture, ruffling her hair again as she then stood up, helping the child to her feet before passing her bunny jacket left on the mattress.

"Sure thing, kid." She agreed, waiting for Mari to zip up her jacket before making her way over to the door. She followed after the grown woman, sticking close to her side as they left their room, closing the door softly to avoid waking the sleeping man inside. With the door closed behind them, Mariana paused for a moment before rushing behind Ava, the grown woman continuing to walk towards the doors that led to the staircase. There wasn't that many people that were around, she noticed.

The stairs were just as empty, though she could hear people laughing and chattering, the sound coming closer as she and Ava made their way down to the ground floor. The people that the voices belonged to passed them in the stairwell, too engrossed in their own joking to pay attention to them. She glanced up at them, keeping silent as to not rudely interrupt their conversation and rather watched as they walked past, disappearing on the floor above. She kept quiet, eager to go outside and enjoy the nice weather for once, though she felt somewhat guilty for feeling relieved that David was asleep. She could still feel the blood on her face, her stomach twisted as she remembered the sickening sounds of flesh and bone being battered, still stuck in her mind, and it was not long before her grim expressions caught Ava's attention.

"You alright there, kid?" She asked, concern clear in her soft voice.

"Ava…?" The small girl started, finally meeting Ava's gaze as she continued. "Why did dad do that to the monster, before?"

The mention of David's actions caused Ava to frown deeply, looking away from Mari for a few moments as she tried to think of what to say to such a young child, how to make her understand what had happened. Mariana waited patiently, staring up at the adult as she paused on the landing between staircases, finally trying to explain to her. "It's complicated...Look, David was scared, and sometimes, you lose control and do stupid stuff when you're scared, especially if someone close to you is in danger."

"Were you scared when he pushed you?" She suddenly asked, wondering if Ava felt the same as she did, noticing the older woman's eyebrows raising in surprise as she thought of her answer carefully. Slowly, she leaned against the wall, her arms crossing over her chest as Mariana stood there, her feet awkwardly scuffing against the dirty floor.

After a few seconds, she heard Ava reply softly with a saddened frown. "Yeah, I was, but I know your dad, okay? It's just been a hard time right now for us, and I know that he loves you more than anything, kid. You're all he has left, he doesn't want anything bad to happen to you. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"

"I guess…" She confessed, understanding somewhat where Ava was coming from. She missed her family, and thinking about it, she wasn't sure she would ever see them again. David and Ava were the only people she had, thinking of the grown woman sort of like a big sister. She always wanted a sister. Although she loved Gabe, he was loud and boisterous, and she often enjoyed the times spent with her mom, and later Kate. Ava smiled at her reply, moving off the wall with her arms falling to her sides.

"Come on, let's enjoy the nice weather before your dad finds out we left without him." She pressed, guiding Mariana down the stairs with a hand to her back, making sure the child didn't slip and fall until they finally reached the bottom of the long staircases.

Walking through the door, she could see dozens of people enjoying the breeze blowing through the open front doors, some of the children that weren't with Grace and the adults running through the door while playing tag. The laughter and chattering between the grown ups were loud in the air, and it felt almost like she was back at home during the family gatherings. She wanted to go and join them, but they looked older than her, and she could feel the intimidation hit her hard as she instead remained by Ava's side.

The woman noticed her apprehension at joining the other kids, and rather than force her to interact with them, she allowed Mari to stay close to her as they continued to walk. The other kids noticed Mariana's presence, even when she hid herself further behind her friend, and muttered to each other before carrying on with their fun. She was pleased that they left her alone, and quietly followed Ava outside instead. Immediately, she could feel the warm sun rays on her face, squinting slightly as the sun blinded her temporarily.

Ava squinted as well, raising her hand to keep the sunlight out of her eyes, and Mari quickly copied her actions, able to see more clearly with the sun no longer blinding her. In the distance, she could hear rambunctious laughter and snorts, the clip clop of something repeatedly running on the concrete floor amongst the noises. People were all around them, more than she saw those few weeks since the walkers first appeared, with families and couples enjoying the sun, sitting by tables outside the abandoned cafe. Ava dodged a child that ran past her, though she was pleased with the easy air rather than annoyed with the near miss, and turning down at Mari, she suggested with a gesture of her hands. "Let's walk about and see what's here."

"What's that sound?" Mariana suddenly asked, hearing the same clip clop coming closer to them. Ava heard it as well, turning her head in the direction of the sounds with pursed lips, appearing confused with what it was. Following her gaze, both of them were caught off-guard when they saw a horse trotting around one of the buildings, a small cart attached to it with children laughing in it, an adult riding on the horse's back to guide it around the path.

"Well…" Ava started, surprised as she moved Mariana to the side, the horse trotting past them as its rider waved at them, Mari waving shyly back as she noticed the children enjoying the activity. Still staring at them, she listened as Ava continued. "That's not something you see everyday."

"It looks like fun!" She giggled, earning a chuckle from Ava as she placed a hand on top of her shoulder, both of them watching as the rider brought the horse to a stop. Dismounting, she gestured for the kids to jump out of the cart, and they obeyed her, albeit reluctantly as they visibly didn't want their fun to end. Ava quietly decided to walk over and introduce themselves, interested in the horse and cart, and so made her way over with Mariana by her side.

The children didn't stick around, voices from the adults behind them calling them back to their side caused the group to run off, bidding goodbye to the rider as she got to removing the saddle and harnesses tying the large beast to the cart. Ava moved up behind her, speaking up so that the woman knew they were there. "That's a pretty cool idea there."

"Oh, thanks!" The rider replied with a wide smile, turning around with the heavy looking saddle in her hands. Slowly, she glanced between Ava and Mariana, pointing out with a low laugh. "I haven't seen you guys before. New here?"

"It's that easy to tell?" Ava joked, both of them chuckling before she revealed to her. "Mariana and I got here this morning. There's another guy in our little group, but he's sleeping right now."

"Man, I feel him. I've been up since pretty early with Saphira here." The rider groaned, patting the horse on its side affectionately before she finally introduced herself. "I'm Mickayla, but everyone around here calls me Mikki."

"Ava. That's a cool horse, where'd you find her?" Ava asked, shaking Mikki's hand slowly as she looked up at the horse's face, the animal calm and subdued with the people beside it, though it was staring at Mariana as she watched it in awe. She's seen horses, but she never really went up to one, and the sheer size of the animal was quite intimidating for the small child. The animal's ears moved around, listening to the sounds and voices all around it while her rider kept talking with Ava.

"Saphira was mine before all the lurkers appeared and started eating people. A couple of days in, I rode up here looking for a safe place to stay. Maria's been pretty accommodating, but I do worry about feeding and giving Saphira the space she needs." Mikki confessed, moving to place the saddle in the cart while Ava looked up at the horse, moving to pat her affectionately on the side. The action got no reaction from the beast, Saphira rather glancing at Ava before looking away, interested in the child looking over her.

With the saddle safe in the cart, Mikki turned around and finally noticed Mariana staring at her horse, walking closer to the child as she placed a hand on the animal's back, speaking up to grab Mari's attention. "You can stroke her, if you want. She doesn't bite."

"Can I?" Mariana asked, looking up at Ava for permission before she did anything.

Crossing her arms, Ava gave her a small smile and nodded, gesturing to the horse as she replied gently. "Go on."

With a bright grin, she turned back to Saphira as her owner removed the straps tying the horse to the cart, keeping an eye on the child as she moved closer to the large animal. Slowly, her hand lifted to the flank and stroked softly, feeling the solid muscle underneath the short hair twitching with the touch. Eyebrows raised with surprise, and she couldn't help but feel giddy as Saphira moved her head towards the child, clearly curious to the small human touching its flank. A blow of air in her face caused Mari to giggle quietly, and softly, she felt Mikki's hand guiding her own to the long nose, stroking it gently as the owner explained. "She likes being stroked there, but be careful of her eyes, okay?"

"She's pretty." Mariana complimented, looking over the splotches of white on the horse's otherwise chestnut hair.

"She is." A voice behind them caused all three of the survivors to turn, Mariana lowering her hand from Saphira's hand as the horse lifted her head, staring at the newcomer with dark eyes. It was Maria, the tall woman accompanied by Stephen as he kept his baby close to his chest, eyeing the horse with a calm expression while his female companion walked closer to the group, adding with a tender tone. "You must be Mariana."

"Y-Yes." She stuttered, glancing away from Maria as the grown woman kneeled in front of her, offering a smile that somehow made the child feel better in her presence, smiling back as she added. "Have you seen the horse?"

"Yes I have, darling. She's pretty, isn't she?" Maria nodded, looking up at the horse as Mikki continued to remove all the complicated looking gear, leaving only the halter and reins on the animal as she turned to their leader, listening as Maria asked. "How's the response to the cart, Mikki?"

"Kids love it, I've just finished another run around the community. Now, it's just leading Saphira here back to the pen." She explained cheerfully, patting the horse on the back as she moved to throw the stuff in the cart. With it packed away, she placed both hands on the horse's back and launched herself on top, straddling the animal carefully as she pressed her heels in its sides, clicking her tongue loudly and sure enough, Saphira starts walking slowly.

Looking down at the other people, she raised her hand in a farewell gesture. "I'll be back for the cart. Thanks for giving me the pen for Saphira, Maria."

"She gives the kids some fun, at least. Be careful, Mikki, I don't want you flying off her again." Maria warned, chuckling when Mikki rubbed the nape of her neck sheepishly before she started trotting away, the sound of the horse's hooves against the concrete growing quieter and quieter as the woman and her animal companion disappeared around a corner.

Mariana stood there for a moment, before she turned to the grown man who had been silent during the entire time they were talking, tapping her foot on the floor awkwardly until he noticed her staring. When he looked down at her, she could feel the nervousness growing in her stomach and looked away, remembering her mother's lessons on how rude it was to stare at people. However, she heard his footsteps grow closer and looked back, noticing that he had closed the distance between them and offered a comforting smile, likely knowing how awkward she was feeling. Gently, he finally spoke up to her. "How're you liking Charleston, Mariana?"

"It's nice, sir." She mumbled, though she was curious to the bundle in his arms.

Laughing softly, he kneeled down and pointed out. "Just call me Stephen, kid."

His kneeling allowed her to see what was bundled in his arms, and she was shocked to see a pudgy baby's face staring back at her, large blue eyes blinking as she looked back at them with surprise clear on her face. Stephen looked down at his son's face as well, glancing up at Mariana as he revealed. "His name's Micah."

"He's cute…" She cooed quietly, loving the sight of Micah staring up at her as she nervously asked the grown man. "Can… Can I hold him?"

Stephen paused for a few moments, seemingly unsure whether to part with his baby or not, but the brown eyes staring at him, silently pleading to let her hold the adorable baby, he gave in and sighed quietly, passing Micah into Mariana's arms. Taking the baby, she copied Stephen's actions as he guided her on how to hold him, and when he was convinced that she had hold of him, he backed away with a gentle laugh. "I think he likes you."

"Ava, look!" She called out, looking over her shoulder as she noticed that Maria and Ava were talking quietly to each other, not wanting to disturb Mariana and Stephen enjoying some time with the baby. The mention of her name caused Ava to turn around, her gaze turning softer when she noticed Mariana holding Micah in her arms, looking down at the baby with affection clear on her youthful face. The grown women moved closer to them, Ava sticking a finger up to Micah and laughing when he grabbed hold of it, his fat fingers wrapped her long digit tightly.

"He's never letting you go now." Maria joked, crossing her arms while reminiscing of another time. "He threw up quite a tantrum when I made him let go of mine the other day. Other than that, you have such a well behaved boy, Stephen."

"Reminds me of his mother." The grown man grumbled, standing up when kneeling started hurting his legs. Mariana kept hold of his baby, both her and Ava cooing over the bright eyed infant.

In the background however, she could hear Maria softly ask her friend. "How're you holding up?"

"I don't know." Stephen confessed, a long sigh coming afterward while he ran a hand through his shaggy black hair, the same hand slowly running down the side of his face and thick stubble. While she was distracted with Micah gurgling in his blanket, she listened as he continued. "It's gonna get harder when Micah grows. Eventually, he's gonna wanna know where his mother is."

"When he's the right age, you can explain to him. It's not your fault, Stephen." She comforted, placing a hand on his shoulder and offered him a saddened smile. A larger hand hovered over hers, and although he didn't return her smile, he instead nodded solemnly and moved on from that conversation, rather slowly taking Micah from Mariana's arms as he whispered to the whimpering baby. "Someone's getting cranky, eh? You can't be hungry, I just fed you."

"Babies could eat for days at that age." Ava joked, watching as he tried to calm his son down, before she turned to Maria and asked her. "So, where do you go to get something to eat?"

"Oh, we go to the storage on the ground floor of the tower for food and such. It's better to have everything we need in the tower in case something breaches the walls." The leader explained, looking at the tower not far from them while ava followed her gaze.

Nodding in agreement, she turned back to Maria and softly questioned her, crossing her arms with a worried expression on her face. "Has there been any problems with security?"

"Not anything big." Stephen piped up, joining the conversation as both of the grown women looked over at him. Mariana looked up at him as well, but found that the conversation was starting to bore her, and she instead looked around to get a good look of her new home while he continued to explain. "We've had some dozy people accidentally leaving the gate open during the night shifts, and the lurkers can get in, but it's usually only a few that we could handle."

"The walls themselves looked pretty sturdy when we came here." Ava pointed out, earning a nod from both of the other adults before they decided that the conversation should end there, noticing that Mariana was growing bored with just standing there as they carried on talking.

Turning to the young girl, Maria appeared thoughtful for a few moments before smiling warmly, offering with a cheerful tone. "Mariana, do you wanna help me with some gardening?"

"Like plants and stuff?" She asked, returning the bright smile when Maria nodded in response. "Yeah!"

"What's this I hear about gardening?" A new voice called out, causing all the survivors in the group to turn in the direction it was coming from. Mariana noticed that it was David walking up to them, a peaceful expression on his face replacing the worn tiredness she was used to seeing. When she moved closer to him and hugged his waist tightly, she listened as he laughed softly and picked her up into his arms, balancing her on his hip. "You alright, mija?"

"Yeah, Maria is going to teach me gardening!" She revealed, looking over at Maria as the woman stood there. David followed her gaze, walking over to Maria with his daughter still in his arms.

"Gardening, huh?" He started, turning back to Mariana when the leader nodded with a slight smile. "Well, behave for her, mija."

"I will." She promised, holding onto his shirt as he placed her back on the ground. With him straightening up, she moved back to Maria's side, grabbing hold of her hand as she guided the child away. Turning around, she saw David and Ava move closer to Stephen, the three of them discussing something before the second in command led them away somewhere. When they finally disappeared from her sight, she turned back around and instead glanced up at Maria, wondering why she looked so familiar to her. After a few moments, she felt her chest tightening and her eyes widened slightly in shock when she remembered those same striking green eyes staring down at her, the warmth mimicking the way that her mother looked at her in the past.

Unable to look at her eyes anymore, she stared ahead, noticing a patch of green that had been carefully kept near the river. The plants kept bloomed in numerous different colours, the petals bright and vibrant as the two survivors neared the plants, Mariana kneeling down at she felt the soft petals under her fingers, careful not to break or tear them. Maria moved past her, picking up the pots that were left on the side of the plot. The young child noticed her actions, leaving the petals alone as Maria moved the pots over to where she was kneeling. The flower inside was a beautiful pink colour, the leaves a vivid green that left Mariana awed with the colours.

"I enjoy coming here and just looking at the flowers. They're pretty, aren't they?" She asked, placing the pot near the other flowers before grabbing a trowel that was left by the plants.

Watching as she dug a hole in the ground, Mariana nodded softly and replied with a quiet voice. "Yeah, I like the pink one."

"So do I. Do you wanna plant this one, then?" She offered, finishing digging the hole in the free space, turning to the young child as she brought the pot between them, grabbing the thick stem and gently lifting it out of its confinements while Mariana nodded enthusiastically. Her smaller hands wrapped around Maria's, both of them working together to place the plant in the hole, and once it was in, the little girl pushed the dug up dirt back over it, copying Maria's actions as they patted the dirt down.

With it properly planted, Maria placed her dirtied hands on her thighs, sitting there as Mariana wiped her hands together, getting rid of some of the dirt while the older woman wondered. "That's a pretty cute jacket you have."

"Ava found it for me." Mariana revealed, looking down at the jacket with a bright grin.

"I take it you like bunnies, then?" She pointed out, chuckling softly when the young child nodded quickly. "I do too. I love their ears, and cute little noses."

"I wanted a rabbit but my dad wouldn't let me." Mariana revealed, staring at the flowers while Maria moved her gaze to them, both of them taking in the beautiful sight as the distant sound of flowing water reached them. Stretching out her long legs, the grown woman grunted in discomfort as she rubbed her ankle, listening as Mariana asked her boldly. "Do you have any pets?"

"Erm… I had a cat." She pondered, stretching her arms upwards with a long yawn before she continued. "A lil' ginger tabby called Tigger. He was a shy one, poor thing."

"My dad's allergic, but we had strays coming into our garden often." The young child remembered, earning a snort and stifled laughter from Maria as she tried to stop herself, feeling terrible for laughing at David's misfortune with cats. After she managed to control herself, the two shared a short glance, before the leader ruffled Mariana's hair affectionately, moving a strand from in front of her face before sighing in bliss.

"You're a good kid, Mariana." she complimented, earning a bashful smile from the other survivor as she glanced away, looking at the towering wall that blocked the street to their right. From behind her, she could hear footsteps approaching fast, and the two turned around to see Alexis running up to them, appearing out of breath as she finally stopped just behind them. Maria and Mariana got to their feet, waiting for Alexis to catch her breath before the leader asked worryingly. "What's wrong, darling?"

"Sorry to disturb you, Maria, but there's a bit of a problem." She revealed, glancing down at Mariana momentarily before she added. "Stephen's busy with the new guards. But it's about Howe's again."

"Alright, just give me a second." She sighed, turning to Mariana as the latter looked up at her in confusion, never hearing that name before, and explained to the child. "Mariana, I need to talk to Alexis for a moment. Stay here and I'll be right back."

"What's happening? Who's Howe's?" She asked, confused over what was happening while none of the adults explained it to her. Glancing nervously at each other, Maria just guided the young girl back to the flowers, letting her sit back down while she instructed her.

"Just stay here, okay? I won't be long." She ordered gently, before turning around and walking off with Alexis to give them some space. Mariana watched as they went inside one of the buildings nearby, likely for privacy as they discussed the delicate matters, and soon her curiosity got the better of her. She was told to stay there and wait, but she was worried on what was happening in her home. She didn't know who Howe's was, but the look of worry on Maria's face when they were mentioned brought back the feelings of uncertainty, just like when David couldn't hide his own feelings from her.

Ignoring what she was told, she got back up to her feet, and walked over to the building that she saw the two women go inside, and paused by the open door. Glancing inside, she could see that Maria and Alexis were standing off to the side, the leader's back to the doors, and kneeling down behind the door, she listened as Maria sighed in frustration. "We've agreed to this deal for both of us to get supplies. Carver's asking for more than we can give him."

"He said that if he doesn't get the stuff, we're gonna regret it. Personally, I think he's an asshole who's getting too big for his boots." Alexis snapped, clearly angered with the problems they were having. Mariana listened intently, confused with the name thrown around. Carver. She dIdn't know who he was, but he didn't sound nice with the pure venom that the grown ups spat his name with.

"I've got no choice. If this keeps going, we're gonna have to cut him off and try to survive on our own." Maria confessed, her tone carrying a tiredness and uncertainty while Alexis nodded in agreement, the hidden child listening as she added. "Jesus, what've we got ourselves into?"

"If it makes you feel better, the supplies we got from Howe's will keep us going for a while. We could always try our hand at growing crops, like they've done." The other woman suggested, shrugging with crossed arms before adding. "We've got room for a greenhouse. We can get the stuff we need from a gardening store I spotted out of town."

"It looks like that's the way to go. Alright… the next time you go out, I need you and your group to go to that store, but please, be careful. I don't want anyone getting hurt, or worse, out there." Maria ordered, sounding genuinely concerned for the safety of Alexis and the other scouts that leave the safety of Charleston's walls.

"I get that you're worried about us, but sometimes, we gotta go into danger for the wellbeing of the group." She pointed out, before quickly adding while Maria started walking around the room, lost in what she should do. "I'll see what we can do. Either way, we're leaving tomorrow. If Carver isn't willing to play ball, I say we cut him out of the deal."

"I'll think about it. Either way, I should check on Mariana. I don't like leaving a little girl alone." The mention of her name caused Mariana to sneak away from the door, rushing back over to the flowers and sitting down before the adults realised they were being spied on, and tried to keep her cool when she noticed them leaving the building. Glancing back at the flowers, she was scared about the man they described. Either way, she would have to tell David and Ava about the problems, and hoped that they would make everything alright.


	7. Difficult Decisions

"I know Charleston isn't that big right now, but we all work together to make sure everything runs smoothly." David listened as Stephen droned on about their community, though the man had been speaking for quite a while, he didn't really absorbed what was being said to him. Rather, it just went through one ear and out the other, unable to focus as his mind was running on other things at that moment.

Mostly, he wondered if Mariana was safe and sound with the others back near the tower, even though the place seemed secure enough and they didn't seem dangerous, he couldn't help but be afraid something could happen to her while he was away. However, the more he thought about the young child, the truth between them tasted more bitter and bitter at the back of his tongue.

He _knew_ Mari was scared of him, that she just needed time and she would hopefully understand his actions or at least talk to him instead of bottling up her feelings. Everytime he'd tried to fix things with anyone in the past he somehow ended up making the situation even worse so giving the little girl some space would be good, but remembering the way she had been acting since that moment back at the road and _that look_ he had never expected to see in his daughter's eyes made his chest constrict painfully

Glancing behind his shoulder he realized that they were already on the outskirts on the community, the tower stood tall in the distance while the small group came to a stop at the wall. Ava stood by him, listening intently to what the second in command was explaining to them.

"So, what're we gonna be doing?" She asked, looking up at the towering wall as she added. "You said we were gonna be put in the guard, right?"

"That I did! Glad to see that _someone_ is actually listening." The last sentence was clearly more shot at David than Ava, Stephen knowing that the other man wasn't giving his explanations his full attention. Glaring at the man with a frown, David held back a reply and just stood there, focusing on what the leader was saying as he explained to the both of them. "Considering you both were in the army, I think your experiences in the battlefield will be useful for the scouts. I wanna see how you guys lead the group and how well you can defend yourselves."

"What's the plan, then?" David spoke up, finding himself less and less eager to leave the safety of the walls after having found the community only a few hours ago. Stephen seemed to have noticed this apprehensiveness to leave the protection of Charleston, and with a deep chuckle rising from his chest, he gestured with a flick of his head for the two to follow him. They obeyed quietly, listening intently as he continued explaining what was going on.

"Alexis' group will be leaving in the morning to continue scavenging. You guys will be working with her, and she'll be reporting back to me with how well you guys did, so I'd stay on her good side." He pointed out, pausing by the towering wall as the three of them fell silent. Listening carefully, David could hear the groans of the undead as they walked along the perimeter of the community, some of the walkers banging weakly against the wall in a vain attempt to get past their protection and get inside.

Backing from the wall, both David and Ava shared a nervous look at the thought of going out there tomorrow. Neither of them were eager to come face to face with walkers again, especially if they also had to lead and look after an entire group. Still, they all had to work together to keep the community going, and David didn't feel right if he just sat around doing nothing while other people risked their lives for supplies. The sounds caused Micah to whimper in Stephen's arms, the grown man comforted the infant as he too moved away from the walls, rather walking down one of the streets with the other adults following close behind him.

Sparing one last glance at the wall, David turned when Ava asked. "So, how'd you guys come across this place? It's a pretty awesome setup."

"When the lurkers started appearing, I was on duty with my partner here. I've lived in Charleston all my life… knew a lot of good people that didn't make it, including close friends." Stephen paused for a minute, the grief and freshly inflicted wounds hurting him worse than the others could possibly imagine. David sympathised with him, recalling how hard it was for him to handle both his parents dying on the same night. If he'd just kept his eyes on the road… but that wasn't the time for pitying himself.

Rather, he listened with a knowing frown as the leader continued. "Everyone that made it barricaded themselves in the tower. Those first few days were the worst for the community. People were bitten, broken or just couldn't go on. Those that survived were lost. No one to lead. So I decided to stand up, became second in command to Maria after she made it her mission to help the people here."

"It looks like you've done a good job. People seem pretty happy to be here." David pointed out, noticing some people walking around in the warm glow of the sun shining high above them. Stephen nodded in agreement, watching the same people as the others realised they were guards on patrol, the rifles in their hands the first thing that David and Ava fixated on. After a few moments of silence, Stephen gestured for them to walk, going down one of the streets that run adjacent to the wall.

Some parts of the wall were quiet, none of the walkers slamming their decayed hands to try and break it down, and it was appreciated by all of them, especially Micah as the infant no longer whimpered in fear of the monsters trying to get them. David glanced down at the innocent face, wondering if they were able to hold onto that innocence when he would grow. If the walkers could be defeated, it would no doubt take a long time with the military in ruins around them. They were in a war, and he hoped that he could get through it without losing those important to him, that someday he could reunite with the rest of his family.

By his side, he listened as Ava asked the leader. "What're we gonna be doing today, then? Before you send us back out there tomorrow."

"Today is just showing you guys the guard routes. Typically, you'll be going along the wall, and checking if there's any faults that need fixing. It's important that both of you stay vigilant, otherwise the whole wall could come down, and we don't wanna deal with a breach that size right now." Stephen explained, looking at the wall for any of those faults while he talked to them. When he spotted none, he paused, turning back to face the other adults with him before adding. "I ain't gonna lie to you guys, but we're running a bit low on our luck right now. We made a deal around a few weeks back with other communities nearby, but with it getting colder and winter starting to come, people are storing their food to help themselves. Can't say we're not thinking of doing that for ourselves."

"Do we have enough food to do that?" Ava asked, somewhat concerned for the future of their community with what Stephen was telling them. David agreed with her concern, wondering if this was the best thing for them.

He didn't answer to that, rather staring straight ahead as they noticed arms reaching through the barred gate near the river. Stephen turned to Ava, silently handing Micah over to her before pulling a knife from its sheath on his belt, making his way over with them close by as David noticed that it was a walker. Weak growls came from it, the blanks eyes and gnashing teeth pressed up against the gate as the metal creaked, the obstacle between living and dead holding up for now. Stephen took no chances, and his knife slipped through the bars of the gate easily, piercing the front of the walker's face and into its brain, killing it instantly before he pulled the blade free.

The squelching sound of flesh being stabbed turned David's stomach, and his appetite was fading faster when he saw the body collapse into a heap. Still staring at it, he noticed Stephen place the knife back into his belt while explaining to them. "This is the only way in and out of Charleston, for now. We gotta keep it clear of dead for the scouts."

"We'd best get a more stable entrance done, soon." David suggested, looking over at Stephen as Ava walked to his side, holding Micah close to her protectively. The other man nodded at that, taking his child from the woman and smiling down at Micah, his son cooing affectionately when his father's face came into view again.

Slowly, he turned around and started walking away, finishing the conversation there with a sharp order. "Come on, we should get back if we wanna get fed."

Ava and David glanced at each other, the shorter of the two looking over her shoulder at the gate before they followed after the second in command. The tower was not far from where they were now, the imposing building blocking the sun behind it and casting the group into shadows that cooled them in the summer heat, the wind blowing over the river hitting David full force and providing comfort to his exposed skin. He was glad winter wasn't close yet, with the harsh cold, low on supplies and so many people in the community, he wasn't sure how things could possibly turn out. At least they wouldn't be alone in a car in the middle of who knows where. The air seemed to leave his lungs as he couldn't help but think about the same situation happening to his family, especially Gabe, he hoped the young boy was well and safe under Kate and Javi's care.

Stephen paused at the doors leading into the tower, glancing to the left when they noticed someone making their way towards them. David followed his gaze, spotting that it was in fact Maria, the worried and agitated expression on her face causing his stomach to twist while he closed the distance between them.

As she stopped, the leader wasted no time as she confessed. "I'm glad I found you guys. Something's happened, I swear I was gone for only a few minutes, I-I thought she would be fine by herself but-"

"But what? What happened?" David interrupted, the agony in his gut worsening when Maria just stared up at him with panic and guilt clear in her eyes.

"It's Mariana." She started, backing away slightly as David's face fell at the mention of his daughter. "I don't know where she is. I'm so sorry, David, I told her to stay put over there with the flowers while I dealt with something. When I came back, she was… gone."

"You left her alone?!" David snapped harshly, his voice a loud, deep growl that caused Maria to take a step back. Ava moved to hold his arm, keeping him back while Stephen moved between them defensively, the loud voices frightening Micah as the baby began to cry. David ignored his piercing cries, only able to focus on his only family left as he demanded answers. "Where?! Where did you leave her?!"

"By the flowerbeds near the river. I'm sorry, Alexis came with something important, I couldn't just ignore it!" Maria excused, leading the group to where she last had Mariana. David rushed past her, spotting the flowerbeds near the riverbank that Maria spoke off, but when he stopped near them, he could see that Mariana was nowhere to be seen. Ava stopped next to him, the worry and fear clear in her voice as she muttered to her friend.

"This ain't good. Where could she be?" She wondered, moving away from the group as she called out loudly. "Kid, where are you?! Come on, this isn't a game!"

"Mariana! Mariana, where are you?!" He called out desperately, glancing around the open space as the river rushed loudly in the background. The possibilities that could have happened ran through his mind, the river, the walls keeping the walkers out, it only caused his heart to pound strongly in his chest with fear while he searched tirelessly for his daughter.

Ava was by his side, helping him look for the young girl, voices calling out before he noticed his friend pausing in her step. Copying her, he looked in the direction she was staring at and noticed Mariana slowly peeking out from one of the buildings, coming out fully when she recognized the voices calling for her.

His feet moved on their own. Rushing over to her, he embraced his child tightly in fear that he would lose her again if he let go. After a few minutes of allowing his heart to slow down, he finally moved away from her and asked, angered yet relieved that he found her again. "What were you doing in there?"

"I…" She paused, looking over David's shoulder at Maria and the others before she continued. "I heard the muertos by the wall over there. I was alone so I got scared and hid here… I'm sorry."

"It's alright, kid. The main thing here is that you're safe." Ava pointed out, giving her a soft smile and moving to David's side as she allowed Mariana to hold her hand. Slowly, the grown man stood up, turning to his friend as she suggested to both of them. "Come on, let's go and grab something to eat."

"We'll give you guys some space." Stephen revealed, walking away with Maria after sending her a stern look, silently urging her with a flick of his head to follow him and avoid David snapping at

her _again_ for losing his daughter.

"I'm sorry." He heard Maria mutter as she turned around and followed the second in command, clearly embarrassed about what happened. But he didn't regret his anger that time. Mariana was entrusted to Maria, and she lost the child on her first time. If that happened, he didn't know if she could be trusted with Mari again.

With the fright of nearly losing the young girl, and with the sun starting to set behind the horizon of buildings along the other side of the river, David could feel that familiar pange of hunger eating away at his innards. Mariana just walked beside him and Ava, holding tightly onto the grown woman's hand as she stared straight ahead in silence. A few glances were thrown her way by him, wondering what was going on in her mind, and whether if she was telling the truth about why she hid. He pushed that taught out of his head. Mariana had no reason to lie to him, she always told him the truth before, given that Gabe was usually the one spinning tales to get out of trouble or his chores. He was almost like Javier in that sense.

Softly, he heard the young girl whisper to him. "Dad, I'm scared."

"It's alright, mija. The muertos can't get to you in here." He consoled, looking down to see that Mariana had moved her gaze from straight ahead of them to stare at his face, trying to comfort herself with his warm smile.

But she couldn't. With a heavy frown, she turned away and revealed to them. "It's not the muertos I'm scared of. I heard Maria talk about a bad man. She said his name was Carver."

"You overheard Maria?" David questioned, recalling Maria saying that she had to have an important to discuss with Alexis just before. Mariana knew what they were talking about, and the realisation of what she did caused David to frown slightly as he scolded. "You were eavesdropping on them, weren't you?"

"No!" She denied, though the way she was unable to meet David's eyes anymore, and the look of uncertainty on her face said all that he needed to know as he stared down at her, listening as she finally confessed in a meek voice. "Yes. I'm sorry…"

"Look, maybe it was rude for her to spy on Maria and that, but maybe she got us some useful information. You think those guys would tell us that about this Carver?" Ava pointed out, annoying David by refusing to take his side _again._ Her kind words seemed to have had a positive effect on the young girl, however, Mari smiling at her as the grown woman returned the smile, quickly glancing over at the approaching tower before asking Mariana. "So, do you know who this Carver is?"

"Maria said he's being mean. Something about the food they're giving to each other, he's being greedy. He sounds pretty scary." She confessed, sounding scared when talking about the mysterious man. The mention of food caused Ava and David to glance at each other with concern in their eyes, neither of them physically mentioning anything before the young girl in their care asked them softly. "Are we safe? I like it here, I don't wanna leave."

"Don't worry. We'll sort this out." David comforted, holding Mariana's other hand while she nodded in response, appearing calmer with her father's words consoling her. However, when he looked up at Ava, he could see none of that calmness in her face, rather she was concerned, almost afraid, for their new home. Honestly, he felt the same way.

Soon after their conversation, they reached the doors leading into the tower, and a young girl standing there caught David's eye as he raised an eyebrow in confusion. Mariana, however, seemed to recognise the child as they ran towards the group, a goofy grin on her face while she gleefully welcomed Mari. "Mariana, I was looking everywhere for you!"

"Hi, Grace." Mariana replied softly, happy to see the other child while David just stood there, watching the two interact with a soft smile on her face. It was nice to see Mariana making friends in Charleston, and this Grace seemed like a friendly enough child with her smile and carefree personality. In his mind, it would be good that his daughter had friends that didn't worry about what was happening just outside their walls. This was the chance for her to be the child he wanted her to be, rather than growing up to care about nothing but survival.

"Mariana's dad?" He heard Grace asked slowly, noticing that she was almost wary around him as she continued to ask, her shoe scuffing against the solid concrete of the pavement. "Is it alright if Mariana comes and has dinner with me and my mom?"

He didn't really like the thought of Mariana being separated from him after just going through that heart attack looking for her, but before he could answer, he heard Ava whisper to him from his side. "David. We can go and find Maria and Stephen while she's with Grace and her mom. Let her go and enjoy some time with her friend."

"Please, dad?" Mariana begged, eager to go and spend some time with someone her own age. With a heavy sigh, he nodded in response, causing Grace and Mariana to smile brightly as the latter continued. "Thanks, dad! Let's go, Grace!"

With that, the two ran into the tower to meet up with the older girl's mother. David and Ava stood there, watching as Mariana and Grace disappeared from their sights before the former sighed in frustration, focusing on what his daughter told them before. If there was someone that was trying to wrestle in on their supplies, it did not bode well for their view on Charleston. In the back of his mind, he wondered if this place was as safe as he forced himself to believe. At least on the road, he knew who his enemies were, and only had to look out for himself and his family, but this was something else. There were so many people here that depended on Maria and Stephen, and he worried if they were able to stand up to the plate of being a leader.

Stephen might have been able to. Practical and unafraid to do what needs to be done, he had the right kind of attitude to protect the people, but Maria seemed too much of a pushover for his liking. Either way, he wouldn't know until he actually found them. Ava was the first to start walking, keeping her voice low as the two of them entered the tower. "We find Maria and Stephen, then what? I don't like the idea of starting shit over some asshole."

"I dunno. First things first, we see what's going on here. If we wanna make this work long-term, we gotta be kept in the loop, otherwise I don't know how long I'm willing to stay here." David confessed, glancing at the unsuspecting people continuing their daily tasks before settling down for dinner. "I don't know what'll happen if this whole thing blows in our face. It was easier when it was just us on the road, at least there all we had to worry about was the muertos."

"Yeah, and no one had our backs when things went south. Trust me, David, being with other people is better than doing this shit alone." Ava insisted, her feelings on the matter clear. David didn't argue, rather he remained silent while they looked around the crowds of people gathering for their food, spotting Jordan at the door leading to the storage. With another survivor they didn't recognize, he was giving out rations to the people as they lined up, those getting their food leaving to eat it elsewhere. With other important matters to attend to, they left Jordan to his work and continued their search.

Maria and Stephen were nowhere to be seen. Confused, David glanced around the numerous faces around them as he wondered. "Maybe they gone to the top floor?"

"Maybe, let's go." Ava replied, making her way over to the staircase while David followed after her. Neither of them wanting to waste time, they jogged up the flights of stairs, taking two at a time, and trying to avoid running into the people that were making their way downstairs towards the storage. Eventually, slightly out of breath, they reached the top floor leading into the makeshift chapel.

David paused at the double doors, opening it slightly as he listened into the room with Ava by his side, the both of them silent as they listened to Maria and Stephen discussing something with hushed voices, a third voice joining in that they recognized to be Alexis'. With a deep frown, he looked over at Ava and noticed her appearing just as unnerved as he was, before he took in a deep breath and opened the door fully. The action didn't go unnoticed by those that were inside the room, Maria staring at them from her chair at the front of the room while Stephen stood off to her side. Walking down the aisle, David's frown deepened as Maria asked him with confusion clear in her voice and face.

"David?" She started, raising an eyebrow as the two stopped at the end of the aisle. "What're you going here? I thought you'd be enjoying dinner round about now."

"We know about Carver, Maria." David revealed, his suspicions worsening when the truth caused the woman's face to fall in shock, eyes drifting from him to Stephen as she silently stared at him, both leaders sharing a look before the soldier continued his questioning. "What's going on with him? Who is this Carver?"

"How'd you find out about that?" Stephen stepped in, eyeing the two up with an angered glare before he looked over at Alexis. "Alexis?"

"Hey, don't look that me. I didn't say shit to them since I brought them here." She defended herself, annoyed that Stephen would accuse her like that. David, unwilling to let them know that Mariana had spied on their private conversations, just crossed his arms as he changed the conversation.

"It doesn't matter how we found out. Who is Carver?" He pressed, noticing Ava staring heavily at the two while waiting for their questions to be answered. Alexis, with Micah in her arms, sighed heavily as she glanced over at her superiors, shrugging while trying to keep the infant calm enough to avoid him crying out for his father.

"Carver's the leader of this community south east of here. Howe's. Some mall they took over down in North Carolina. We had a deal with him, trade the stuff they need for the stuff we need, and everyone was gonna be happy with it. Problem is, he's a greedy bastard and wants more than what was agreed, what we can give him." She explained, looking over at David and Ava with a concerned frown, adding in a quiet voice. "We're in deep shit if we don't do something _fast._ "

"That's why I say we cut the deal off." Stephen interjected, glancing over at Maria and interrupting her before she could argue. "If we had your way, we'd be out of supplies and starving to death in the next two weeks! I ain't letting my people suffer because of an asshole who got too big for his boots."

"Maria, why are we even arguing on this?! You agreed with me before, you know what we have to do to survive!" Alexis revealed, confused as to why their leader was going back on her word. Maria looked over to her, eyebrows furrowed in frustration as she was finally given a chance to put her views across.

"Because I know what William Carver is like! You're not the one who has to do meeting with him, Alexis, he is a cruel man who doesn't care about other people! I'm terrified of how Charleston will be affected if we cut things off with him." She snapped, clearly at the end of her rope. The harsh bite in her words caused Alexis to raise her eyebrows in surprise, caught off guard with the other woman's outburst as her face fell in sympathy. David watched the exchange with his hardened features softening, feeling a pange of empathy for Maria and the harsh reality of being a leader.

"Sometimes you gotta face your fears, Maria." He explained, watching as her gaze fell to the floor and her shoulders sagged with the weight collapsing on top of her. "If we don't stand up to him, Carver will think he can take everything he wants from us."

"Anything has to be better than dealing with this guy, right?" Ava joined in, moving to the chair beside her and sat down. David remained standing, looking at the different expressions on the survivors' faces, all of them thinking about what they were talking about. Stephen and Alexis nodded in agreement, yet their words seemed to only make Maria despair more over the inevitable confrontation with the other community's leader. It had to be done, otherwise they would end up with no supplies and starve to death in the upcoming winter.

Softly, she sighed to herself and rubbed her face with both of her hands, trying to calm her frayed nerves before she finally conceded. "I can't go against what so many people want. Alright, I'll go down to Howe's next supply run and we'll talk to Carver there. God, I hope this doesn't come and bite us in the ass."

"This is what's best for us, Maria. I know it." Stephen pressed, moving to her side as a large hand clasped around her shoulder, a strained smile all he can give her before both of them frowned once more. It must have been tiring, David thought, to keep all these people safe and fed. Hopefully, he could help make their struggles that little bit easier to bear, but for now, he was starving and wanted nothing more than to have dinner and settle down for the night, noticing the sun set even more behind them, the skies darkening to the deep blue.

"We can go with you, Maria." Ava offered, pausing when everyone looked over at her in surprise, including David, though she continued her offer after a few stressful moments of silence. "When you go to Howe's. You don't have to do this alone."

"That's… That's generous of you, Ava. I'd appreciate it." Maria replied gratefully, a genuine smile tugging at the corners of her lips while Ava returned the gesture, nodding before she stood up once more. Moving to David's side, the both of them listened as their leader suggested in a more gentle tone. "Why don't you two go and eat? We can take again later."

"Yeah, come on. I'm starving." Ava agreed, directing those words to David as she gestured for him to follow her. Walking down the aisle towards the double doors again, he remained quiet with a knowing expression on his face, unable to shake the slippery feeling wiggling around at the back of his mind. Maria was right to be afraid. There was no way they would be able to know what would happen in the future with this Carver, and the incoming winter was almost all he could think of while fear gripped him tightly. Unable to shake himself completely free of it, he rather forced himself to listen to Ava.

Letting the doors close behind them, the shorter survivor paused, hands on hips as she turned her head to David and mumbled. "Jesus. What're we getting ourselves into?"

"Whatever happens, we gotta see this through. Help Charleston through this." David pointed out, walking past her as he made his way down the staircase, the other following after him as he finished with a tired whisper. "We can't run away from this."


	8. Outside The Walls

"I really appreciate you coming here to help me, Javi." David said as he stood there, folding shirts and other items of clothing that was in the pile while his brother stood on the other side of the kitchen, his back to the older Garcia. The clinking of dishes rang in his ears, as Javier helped David around the house that day, having already hoovered around and started the mountain of dishes that his niece and nephew left behind. Despite having small bodies, David's children could put away more food than he thought possible. He didn't know how he managed to get the chores out of hand, but he was thankful that his family was behind him at this time.

"Hey, it's just like back when we were kids." Javier joked, placing another washed plate in the rack for drying before grabbing a cup. "Pretty sure you always strong armed me into doing your chores."

David let out a short laugh as he grabbed a pink striped shirt, folding the arms in before he folded the shirt in half with quick hands. He recalled being completely useless at it in the beginning, before Laura showed him how easy it was to hold clothes, and she appreciated the help around the house. His heart clenched at the thought of his wife, and instead carried on conversing with his brother. "Mamá wouldn't let me get away with it, though. She'd always know."

"And then she'd drag you back inside the house, right in front of your friends, and make you do the dishes even if I already did them." The other Garcia reminisced with a chuckle, scrubbing at the cup when he noticed a stubborn stain that refused to be removed. David kept folding the clothes that he pulled out of the laundry basket, noticing one of Gabe's beanies being thrown in and slowly pulled it out. Rather than the orange one that he loved, it was a dull grey one that had obviously seen better days. He had a thought of just throwing it away, but he refrained from doing so when he knew how Gabe would react to him disposing of his cherished possession.

"Yeah, you always were Mamá's favourite." David pointed out, unable to stop that hint of jealousy from creeping in. Those words already out, he fell silent and rather focused on the laundry, feeling the air get tense as Javi said nothing either. He must have heard what was said. It wasn't the first time David let his feelings become clear about his brother, that jealousy and bitterness to Javier's success and lack of commitments bubbling deep in his stomach.

Eventually, the sound of dishes clanking against the metal sink ceased and he heard Javier speak out to him. "David. Come on, man, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." That came out too quickly and rather harsh for David's liking. Javier seemed to see through that transparent lie, he could see him from the corner of his eye as the younger man moved over to the counter opposite to the sink, sighing exasperatedly. Leaning against it, he crossed his arms while David continued folding clothes, trying his best to ignore him, unwilling to look at Javier as he furrowed his eyebrows with concern clear on his face.

"David…" Javier started, but those words he was going to speak died in his throat when David finally looked back at him, throwing the half-folded shirt carelessly back on the pile. Instead, Javier just stood there, trying to think of the words to say to make his brother feel better, but none came to mind. Silent, David just sighed to himself and carried on with the clothes, trying desperately to stop his thoughts from drifting to what had happened over those past few weeks. He couldn't bear to think about Laura, and his teeth gritted together painfully when Javier finally spoke what was on his mind. "You can talk to me, David. You've been staying strong for the kids, but… it's not wrong to admit that you need help."

"I don't need help." David rejected, looking back at Javier with a stone cold expression on his tired face. Javier didn't waver. Keeping eye contact with his older brother, his face fell when David looked down with a harsh whisper. "I don't."

"So you're just gonna keep going like nothing's wrong?" Javier questioned, some of that annoyance and disbelief clear in his voice that set David on edge. He would not be judged in his own house on his own coping methods. Repeating his last words in his head, he couldn't stop the scowl from forming on his face when Javier snapped. "I'm trying to help, David! But now… now I see that you don't want help. You're just gonna keep going until you finally snap, like you always do!"

"Don't start this, Javi. Not now." David warned, dropping his tone to a dangerous growl that caused pause in his younger brother.

Javier didn't say anything, instead standing there with the anger and exasperation dying down as he frowned deeply. Quietly, he tried to continue the conversation, unwilling to set off David's already short temper. "I'm not trying to fight. If this is how you wanna cope with Laura dying, then fine. I won't tell you how to grieve, but I'm not gonna be here to see you finally blow up."

"What'd you mean?" David interrogated, having a sneaking suspicion that he already knew what his brother was hinting at. Crossing his arms, Javier leaned against the counter while David, finished with folding the clothes, moved the laundry basket over to the table and threw it down, the loud bang echoing through the air.

Quiet, he stood there, saying nothing while Javier started to explain slowly, a hint of guilt laced in his words. "I can't stay here forever, David. I got this big game down in Florida in a couple of weeks. I already had to be benched just to come to Laura's funeral."

"Oh, I suppose it was a big ask of you to just show up at your sister-in-law's funeral." David snarled, turning around to face Javier while continuing his rant. "I'm sorry we didn't have the red carpet rolled out for Prince Javi!"

"David, you know that's not what I meant!" Javier snapped, pushing himself off the counter as he started advancing on his brother. "I loved Laura, she was the greatest woman I ever met and I was glad that you two decided to get married! She was a great mom, and you're not the only one who misses her…"

He paused, looking over at a photo on the counter that showed the wedding. Laura, in her military uniform with her dark hair flowing down, looked so happy standing next to a smartly dressed David, the happy couple smiling brightly into the camera. David didn't follow his gaze, these weeks he had difficulty looking at anything that reminded him of her. Slowly, the younger brother continued. "We all have our own lives, David. I have my career to think of, and you still have Gabe and Mariana."

"Why wait, then?" David suddenly asked, a chill to his voice causing Javier to back down slightly. Gesturing to the door, he just turned around and grabbed the laundry basket, turning his head to his brother as he coldly ordered him. "Get out."

"David." Javier started, but he was ignored as David just walked away, taking the clothes he folded to put away in his children's rooms. The younger Garcia stood there, moving a few steps while calling out to the other. "You know what? Fine. I'm going to Pa's to say goodbye and then I'm leaving for Florida. See ya, David."

The loud slamming of the front door signalled Javier's departure. Standing in the corridor with the basket in his hands, David was silent as he contemplated Javier's words. He was enraged that his younger brother would just leave while his family was grieving, but at the same time, he wouldn't deny that he was jealous. Javier had a career that he loved, and nothing to hold him back from doing what he wanted. Despite the love he had for his children and his parents, he often wished that he could just have a moment where all he had to worry about was himself. Maybe that made him selfish like Javier, but the idea had some appeal to the retired soldier. However, he had not time to think like that, and so he continued to walk to Mariana's room to put away her clothes.

That day continued to echo in David's mind, and when he felt someone nudging his shoulder with something hard, his eyes slowly opened, the groggy survivor half expecting to be back at his house. However, walls with childish drawing taped to them and files with backpacks leaning against them, he couldn't help but feel disappointed that he didn't awake in his comfortable bed, Javier having returned with a sheepish grin and the brothers carried on until the next argument pushed them apart. David was surprised with how much he actually missed seeing that smile.

Rubbing his eyes, he glanced down at the hard object poking his shoulder and realised that it was Ava's foot, the woman nudging him with her toe with a raised eyebrow. Looking up at her with an annoyed glare, he said nothing as she finally spoke up. "You were muttering in your sleep again. Just wanted to make sure you weren't dead. You're welcome."

"Not dead yet, thanks." David muttered sarcastically, sitting up with a deep groan resonating in his chest. His back ached from sleeping on the old mattress that was provided with the room, but he was grateful they had that rather than sleeping in the car. Stretching his limbs, he heard the loud pops of his joints as he loosened them up, finding some difficulty in getting up as the vertebrae in his spine cracked all at once. Sore but no longer feeling that tiredness wash over him in a haze, he glanced down at the mattress to see Mariana still sleeping, the young girl so small compared to the size of the double mattress, her knees curled up into her chest to make her seem even smaller.

Unwilling to wake her up, he just stared at her peaceful face and remembered his flashback, wondering where Javier, Kate and Gabe were at that moment. He thought about the arguments he had with Javier the night their father died, and found that guilt welling in his stomach worsening. His family could not even be alive anymore, or were just living on the road just like he did with Ava and Mariana for those few weeks. His brother could've just abandoned his family at his convenience and went off on his own, but David wanted to think the best of his brother at these times. People could change. Hopefully, Javier had changed for the better, but David didn't hold out much hope.

"You alright?" Ava suddenly asked, crossing her arms with a concerned look in her eyes, staring up at the grown man as he turned around, leaving his daughter to rest while instead moving to the bat that he left leaning against the wall near the window. Picking the weapon up, he paused when he noticed outside the window, staring down at the ground far below the floor of the building. People were already up, some patrolling the wall whilst keeping an eye out for any faults or dangers, and some of the children were enjoying the warm summer day.

"Yeah." He lied, turning back to face the other adult as he shrugged his shoulders. "Why?"

"Maybe because I know when you're lying." Ava pointed out, uncrossing her arms as she sighed quietly, glancing back at Mariana for a brief moment as she explained. "It's alright to admit when you need help, David. It ain't weakness to admit when you're not strong."

"Ava, I appreciate what you're trying to do but I need you to just drop it. Some things just need to be left in the past." He rejected. Ava moved to say something, but decided against it and instead decides to turn their conversation to the words they had with Maria and Stephen just a few days ago.

"I ain't gonna lie, David, I'm scared shitless with what we've done." She confessed, looking up at David to see if he showed any of the fear that she herself was feeling. He kept his thoughts and emotions on the matter under wraps, and instead offered an ear to listen to her explanations. "I mean, we've been in this place for a few days and already made a decision that would affect us and everyone in this community. Do you ever have any doubts about whether we've done the right thing or not?"

"There's no right or wrong answers anymore, Ava. We've made a choice and now we gotta stick with it. I dunno about you, but I didn't feel right making deals with the man Maria and Stephen were describing." He brushed off, lifting the bat up so that it was resting on his shoulder and leant against the wall, quickly adding when he saw that none of his words had a calming effect on the grown woman. "Trust me. We can handle anything that happens. We've faced worse before, haven't we?"

"Yeah… you're right." She agreed, nodding slowly before she took in a deep breath. Exhaling, she couldn't shake the saddened glint in her eyes as she added. "Sometimes, I wonder what it'd be like if Jonas was still with us. He'd probably be whining about his side, or that I hog too much of the bed. He always did complain a bit too much."

"He would've been pestering Mari for those band-aids she offered him." David joked back, remembering the deceased soldier for the short amount of time that the two knew each other. Ava clearly missed him still, a saddened smile appeared on her face before she just chuckled deeply, stretching her arms out to pop the joints while taking in a deep breath again.

"Well," she started, letting her arms swing down to her sides before moving towards the door. "We better wake Sleeping Beauty up and head out. Today's the day Stephen wants us to go out with the group for some recon in the rest of the city."

"I forgot all about that." David confessed, excited yet afraid at the same time with the thought of venturing out of the safety of the walls around them. He didn't want to keep the others waiting though, and so he turned around to a sleeping Mariana, kneeling down while Ava went to slip her boots back on for the day.

His daughter breathed softly, barely making a sound while David's hand hovered over her shoulder. His hand paused for a moment. Seeing her peaceful face, he almost felt bad for waking her up from whatever dream she was having, bringing her back into this world full of horror and struggle. However, he finally put that doubt to the side and shook the young girl gently. Brown eyes opened slowly, pupils shrinking when the light of day hit them and momentarily, Mariana blinked to get rid of the sleep, before she slowly sat up on the mattress. Rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, she mumbled to her father. "What time is it?"

"It's pretty early morning, kid." Ava pointed out from behind, appearing by David's side as she tapped the toe end of her boot to make sure it was on properly. Mariana glanced out of the window, seeing the bright light beaming through the clean glass and just shuffled over to the edge of the mattress, standing up as Ava explained to her. "You know we're going on that scouting trip today, okay? We're leaving after breakfast, so Grace's mom is gonna look after you until we come back."

"Okay…" Mari replied quietly, moving to put her shoes on while David and Ava shared a look, both of them worried by the subdued response they got from the child.

Looking back at Mariana, David softly asked her. "Mija, you don't wanna stay with Grace and her mom?"

"No, it's not that, it's just… I don't want you to go." She confessed, nervously glancing over at Ava as she continued with fear clear in her voice. "The monsters are still out there. We're safe here, why do you have to go back out there?"

"Mariana, it's only safe here because people go out there to find stuff we need. Food, medicine, we wouldn't last long if we didn't go out and get it." Ava pointed out, crossing her arms while David nodded in agreement. At least Ava was there to help him explain all of this to the young girl, and he was thankful for that. Mariana stared at her with confusion on her face, an eyebrow raised before she just nodded in response.

"Can I come with you guys someday? I wanna help." She asked, looking from Ava to David and back to Ava again while the two adults were caught off guard by her question. His eyebrows raised in surprise at the sudden offer, wondering where this want to do what the adults were doing came from, but it didn't affect his answer as he shook his head firmly.

"Mija, you're too young. It's dangerous out there, even for me and Ava. You're safer here." He replied, trying not to feel bad when Mariana stared sadly at him. She didn't force the situation, rather accepting his answer and instead fell silent as her father slowly stood up. He turned to say something, anything to make her feel better about her guardians leaving her alone, even if she was with her friend, but she just ignored him and instead moved towards the door, quickly followed by Ava. As the child exited the room, Ava paused and offered David a faint smile, though it fell short as she quickly followed after Mariana.

Standing in an empty room, he sighed to himself and grabbed his baseball bat before leaving after the others. Once he was out of their bedroom, he closed the door and turned to Ava and Mariana, walking beside the grown woman as she decided to fill the silence with some conversation. "Stephen's looking into what the city just outside our walls are like, just in case it's good enough for us to start expanding."

"We need the people here first before we start thinking about getting more space." David pointed out, noticing his pessimistic attitude annoying Ava slightly as she frowned, before he quickly added. "We could find people stuck in other parts of the city today. There's a whole section across the river."

"We'll have to cross the blocked off bridge to get there, but you could be right about the people there." Ava conceded, leaving the conversation there when she noticed someone making their way over to them. David followed his friend's gaze, confused to who it was until he recognised the baseball cap covering the sharp eyes as the woman glanced up, Alexis trying to keep up with her sister's quick gait as the twins approached the small group.

When Alexis and Carissa reached them, the latter got straight to the point as she ordered them. "Look sharp ladies, we're heading out now."

"Now? We were just on our way to the ground floor for some breakfast." David replied, shocked that they were leaving so soon. Carissa just shrugged her shoulders while Alexis rubbed the back of her neck, sheepish about the offstandish manner with her sister. Mariana glanced around them, scared that she would have to be separated with her father so soon.

"You can grab something and eat it on the way out, but Stephen wants us to go early so we have more time to scavenge. You coulda woke up when we did if you really wanted breakfast that bad." Carissa sighed, looking down at Mariana with a softer gaze as she suggested. "You can take Mariana to whoever's looking after her, just meet us outside the tower. Don't take too long, I don't think I can keep Axel from chewing your head off for making him wait. Oh, and you'll need these."

Turning to Alexis, she took what appeared to be a couple of backpacks from her sister and passed them to the other adults. David took one, slipping it over his shoulders while Ava did the same, replying to Carissa.

"We won't take too long. Come on, David." She promised, watching as Carissa looked back at them and gave a curt nod, before walking towards the flight of stairs with Alexis in tow. When both of them disappeared from sight, David glanced over at Ava as she sighed. "Well, I guess we're gonna have to have our food to go."

"We best hurry. I don't want to give Axel any reason to be against us." David suggested, making his way to the stairway with the others following after him. Mariana kept quiet, instead doing what she was told and kept close to her guardians, and she kept like this even when they reached the bottom floor, the people already eating and enjoying another day of warm summer sun. It wasn't long before Grace spotted her friend in the crowd, running over with an energy that David wished he still possessed, finding his worn body slowing down with all the things he had to do throughout the weeks and beforehand.

Skidding to a stop, and almost knocking David over with her speed, Grace had a huge grin on her face as she spoke up cheerfully. "Mari, you almost missed breakfast! I saved a space for you by me, and then we can go on the horse cart! Mikki promised us the front this time and then-!"

"Slow down before you pop a gasket, Grace." Ava tried calm her down, noticing her mother walking towards them with a calmer smile on her face. Looking down at Mariana, both she and David noticed a smile creeping on the child's face, and the grown woman explained as Mari moved to Grace's side. "Stay with Grace and her mom, Mari. We'll be back before nightfall."

"Okay, I will." She agreed, nodding before Grace started dragging the child to where she was previously sitting. David chuckled deeply at the scene, glad that in all of this, his daughter had found someone who was bright and bubbly, keeping Mariana from becoming too glum with what was happening around her. While the children went to finish their food, Grace's mother approached the two with her smile fading away, no longer keeping a front to appease her child.

"I was hoping to grab you before you left." She started, looking over her shoulder at the oblivious Grace and Mari as she continued. "I heard about the talks with Maria and the others, about this community south from here. Howe's, as it? I heard what the man running it is like."

"Where's this going?" David asked, feeling a sense of uneasiness in the pit of his stomach as Grace's mother sighed deeply.

"I just… I need to know that Charleston is safe. If shit starts to fly with this Howe's and my home, I have to think of my daughter's safety. I will leave for somewhere else." She explained, looking nervous talking about this to them. "I'm only telling you guys this because Grace and Mari are really close. I don't want to take Grace's only friend from her."

"I understand that you're scared but leaving will only put Grace in danger. We've seen what it's like out there, there's nothing for her." Ava explained, trying her best to convince to frightened woman from doing anything drastic.

David nodded in agreement, keeping his voice low as he added. "Just see what happens. We're stronger in a group then on our own, you and your daughter are safer here."

Grace's mother took a deep breath, calming herself down as she slowly conceded to their points. "Okay… Okay, I'll trust what you guys say. I'll make sure Mari's taken care of while you guys are gone. You can count on me."

"Thank you. We best get going before the others start getting impatient." David sighed, leaving Mariana in the other woman's care. Making their way to the front door, he lifted his hand to stop the bright sunlight from hurting his eyes, squinting slightly as he noticed the group waiting close by, Ava by his side copying his actions. The group were talking quietly, Axel taking orders from Stephen while Jordan and Alexis were chatting about something else, laughing and joking while Carissa kept to her sister's side. As David and Ava approached the group, both Axel and Stephen noticed them, the latter walking over to them as he smiled.

"Hey, I just wanted to say thanks to you guys, for sticking by me in the meeting about Carver. Made me realise that I can count on you two." He smiled, looking behind him when the others noticed Axel approaching them. David was on edge, unsure how the other man would be that day, and even Stephen's words did nothing to calm his nerves. "Axel here will be watching your backs. Considering it's your first time on the scout, he'll be sorta like your instructor, and he'll give feedback to me on how you did. If you wanna go on up in this, he's the one you wanna impress."

"It ain't gonna be easy." Axel pointed out, crossing his arms with a stern expression on his rugged face. "Stay frosty outside the walls, and try to not fuck anything up and not to get anyone killed, then we'll be alright."

He walked away right after that, turning his attention to the others while Ava and David glared at his back, clearly annoyed with his harsh way of addressing them. Stephen sighed quietly, turning back to them as he excused the abrasive man. "Look, the man's an asshole but he was my partner back in the police force. Nothing he wouldn't do to protect the public but he's never been that patient. Axel's been alone ever since he was kicked out, and I've been watching his back."

"You guys must have known each other for a long time." Ava pointed out, her voice softer as Stephen's loyalty to his friend touched her.

Stephen gave her a sad smile, showing some of that tiredness that plagued both her and David since all this began. Glancing again at Axel and the others, Stephen kept his voice low as he nodded. "He's my best friend. We've known each other going on twenty five years, met him in the first grade if you can believe it."

David whistled at that, eyebrows raised in surprise. "That's a long time to know someone."

"It is, indeed. Just keep an eye out for him, and try to get everyone home safe. With all this Carver business, I really don't wanna deal with the death of a friend." Stephen asked, allowing the two to join up with the others before walking back to the tower, Micah making a fuss in his father's arms as the grown man tried to calm him down. Alexis smiled at the approaching survivors, before Axel's orders brought that smile down to a tired and annoyed frown once more. David stood beside the young woman, Ava on his other side, and they listened to Axel as he paced in front of them, similar to a sergeant in front of fresh troops back in the army.

"We're going into the part of the city that's over the river today." He started, pointing in the direction of the cut off bridge so that the others could see it. Staring at the bridge in the distance, David first noticed the large blockage, feeling his stomach twist in worry while Axel continued. "Ain't no one been over there since the plague started, so we don't know what we're gonna face. All I know is that there's stores there, farming, medical, everything we need to get if we wanna make this community last. Good thing we ain't trading all this shit away to Carver. Don't stray from the group, and keep your wits about you. Any luck, and we'll all make outta this with supplies and no casualties."

He paused, staring at all the other scouts with a stern gaze. "No funny business on this run. Everyone on this team has proven that they can take anything thrown at them, but I will not accept risk-takers. We follow my lead, is that understood?"

"Yessir." The group replied in unison, following after Axel as he grunted in response ande gestured with a wave of his hand for the group to move out. David and Ava kept to the front by his side, watching what the others were doing and copying them. All his time in the army, following rules and formations, David was actually happy to be put on the front line again. Leaving the walls, protecting the people that put their lives on them to find the supplies they desperately need, it was almost like he could be back there, back in his squad, and he can only wonder what Ava was feeling.

One of the gates leading out of the other side of Richmond was bigger, some work having gone to enforcing it over the days that David and Ava were there and even beforehand. One of the guards on duty noticed the group approaching, recognising Axel at the front and, without saying a word to him, opened the gate to allow them to pass through. Alexis shot them a friendly smile as they moved through, the guard returning the gesture before pulling the door closed once more. Trapped on the other side of the wall, David could see just how deserted the city was outside the closed off section. Charleston was huge. Any plans that Stephen had for expanding seemed all the more daunting when faced with sheer size of the city, but then was not the time for David to think about that.

"Stay calm, gents." Ava pointed out, staring at a truck that had half of the vehicle dangling over the side of the bridge, the river rushing down below. While Axel and the others walked past it, she glanced over the edge, unnerved with the height of it before backing away.

"Be careful around the edge, Ava." David warned, allowing her to pass him as he added. "There ain't much hope of recovering you if you fell in the river."

"The only way I'm getting in that river is if a walker pushes me in." Ava joked, smirking at David as he shook his head, rolling his eyes while they walked behind the group. The bridge was silent, the faint summer breeze blowing through and cooling the survivors down as they made their way across to the other side of the river. Along with the truck, numerous cars littered the road, showing the crashes that happened weeks ago at the beginning, the drivers and passengers either dead or long gone.

Passing a family saloon, David watched as Carissa glanced inside, noticing something as she moved to the back of the car. The impact of the crash forced the boot open, the female survivor pushing it open and rummaging through while her sister moved to her side, both of them shoving some of what they found in their bag. As David approached them, he noticed Carissa pulling out a baby sling with one hand and glancing over to him, putting it in her bag as she pointed out to him. "Stephen could use this for Micah rather than carry him around everywhere. Lil guy's getting bigger every day."

"That's a good idea." David complimented, earning a faint smile from her as she continued taking stuff from the boot of the car. While they were doing that, David looked into the car and immediately felt his heart clench. In the car was a small baby seat, similar to the one that David used to bring his own children home from the hospital, except this one had no baby in it. He didn't know what happened to it, in fact he really didn't want to know, and with a twisted stomach he backed away and just let Alexis and Carissa strip the car of anything useful.

Jordan, meanwhile, was keeping watch while Axel took Ava and searched some more vehicles further up. Deciding to join him, David approached the dark skinned man and spoke up. "You see anything, Jordan?"

"Not yet." He replied, turning to look at David with a bright smile. "I saw you around these few days with Mariana. How's she holding up?"

David didn't reply immediately. Rather, his face fell and he just sighed. "I don't know. She's like a puzzle, just when I think I know what she's feeling, she then throws me a curveball. She's nothing like her brother."

"You have a son? Where is he?" Jordan asked, his voice dropping when he asked the second question and David could tell that it was because the other man never saw any other child with David besides Mariana. If he was in Jordan's shoes, he would assume the worst as well.

"Gabriel's with my brother and my, erm… my wife." He revealed, messing with the wedding ring on his finger. Jordan raised his eyebrows in surprise, before glancing away sheepishly when David pointed out in a joking manner. "Don't worry, I already broke the news to Ava."

"Man, I just thought you guys were a couple because you had a kid. It's cool that you got someone there for your son, but how's Mariana taking being away from her mom?" The other survivor asked, curious about his daughter and how she was handling things.

David rubbed the back of his neck, answering in a tired tone. "Kate's not Mari's real mom, but she still misses her bad. Sometimes, I wonder if them being with us now would only push me and Kate further apart."

"Shit, things were that bad before all this?" He wondered, staring at David as the latter frowned sadly, still clearly sore with being forced to face the disaster that was his marriage. With his lips pulled into a thin line, Jordan looked away and shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, man. These things happen and there's nothing we can do to stop it. You never know, maybe this time away from each other will make you and your wife realise what you actually want. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?"

David wasn't so sure. However, with Jordan trying to make him feel better over the sensitive issue, he nodded with a grateful smile and replied. "Right."

"Look out, seems like we're having some company." Jordan suddenly pointed out, pulling his knife free as David looked in the direction the other was staring in, noticing a group of walkers making their way from the other side of the bridge. Jordan's warning reached the others, Carissa and Alexis finish with the cars near them and making their way over to David and Jordan while Ava and Axel, having moved further away from the group, were forced to deal with some of the walkers that broke off the main group. Noticing Ava in danger, David ran a few steps with a worried expression on his face.

"Ava!" he called out loudly, unable to run to her aid with the walkers blocking him off. Backing away, he was too slow when Jordan approached a walker and quickly kicked it in the leg, sending the undead tumbling to the ground, before the knife being stuck in the back of its head to stop it from getting up.

Surprised with how fluid Jordan moved, David noticed a walker approaching him while he was distracted by the other survivor, lifting his bat up and glancing down at the monster's legs. Bent awkwardly, it shambled over towards him before he stopped it in its tracks with a solid throw of his bat, shattering the weak bones and causing the walker to fall down, before David swung it down on top of its head. The skull caved in on itself, and with that walker taken out David turned his attention to the others. However, Carissa and Jordan worked together effectively, taking out the walkers without reaching for their holster guns, knowing that more would come if they fired their weapons. Alexis watched from behind, keeping out of her sister's way as she watched David's back in case any of the walkers got past them.

Eventually, the threat was taken cared of, leaving tired and bloodied survivors amongst corpses that stained the road red with their blood. David inhaled deeply, looking at an approaching Ava as he asked her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, Axel helped me out big time back there." She revealed, turning to the other man as he approached her side. There was a splatter of blood across her face, Ava's hand rubbing it in an attempt to clean herself, yet only managed to smear it more before she gave up, instead thanking Azel for his help. "Thanks for that."

"No problem. This group was only a small party, more lurkers are in the streets ahead of this bridge. We gotta be real careful from here on out." He instructed, walking at the front of the group as all of them headed out. Passing through the bridge, they found little resistance save for the walkers that were once people who died trying to escape the city. Those that remained were fragile walkers that stumbled towards them, or even crawled with their bent out of place legs. Axel and his group were clearly trained in dealing with them, and David was impressed with how fluid they moved through the danger.

The city on the other side of the river was all but abandoned by anyone living, save for the undead and the crows that could safely fly away from the danger, the corvids finding a feast in the dead corpses that littered the streets, only giving way for walkers and the group that came to close them. Axel kept to the front, passing by something only resembling a wide massacre as corpses laid on the tarmac, the crows picking at the soft, decomposing flesh. Ava covered her nose with the sleeve of her army jacket, the smell causing David to wrinkle his own in disgust and turn away, desperate to move away from the bodies and just let the crows enjoy their fill in peace. The summer heat did nothing to help with the stench, rather making it worse as David noticed Carissa removing her baseball cap, fanning her flushed face with it in an attempt to cool herself down, before giving up altogether and putting her hat back on.

The streets weren't abandoned for long. Axel paused when they reached a junction, vehicles littering the roads with some having crashed into street lights, other cars and even the buildings themselves, causing some of the brickwork to crumble away. By his side, David could see what the other man saw, huge groups of walkers that were shambling around, some of the undead stuck where they sat due to broken or even missing limbs. Moving back around the corner, Axel turned to the group as they gathered around him. "This place is pretty big. We're gonna cover more ground if we split into two teams."

He turned to Carissa and Alexis. "Carissa, you'll be leading Alexis and Jordan. Search the east section of this city, take anything you think is valuable but don't weigh yourself down. Let Jordan carry the bulk."

"You got it, boss." She obeyed, turning to Alexis and Jordan while walking away. "Come on, guys. We'll meet here before sunset, Axel. If you ain't here, I'm taking the others back over the bridge."

"Copy that." He responded, turning his attention to David and Ava when the other group disappeared into one of the buildings. "You guys are with me so I can keep an eye on youse. We're tackling the west section of the city. Just follow my lead, and keep an eye out for anything that's needed."

"Lead the way." Ava replied, following behind Axel with David beside her as the trio walked down one of the other streets. The silence was broken occasionally by the faint groans of the walkers that infested the city, David creeping by with the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. He couldn't see them, but he knew that they could be anywhere. Under the cars, hiding in the alleyways, it was easy to miss one and be ambushed by them. Without someone there to save you, it'd be a death sentence for any unfortunate survivor who was caught by a walker.

The trio slinked into an alleyway when the end of the street was shown to be blocked by a large crash, as well as walkers gathering around the bodies of the killed drivers to feast. The walls were graffitied heavily, the paint dried and chipped while some of the staining on the brickwork were actually dried blood, a splatter and a trail downwards leading to a slumped over body that David spotted. His breath stopped in his chest when he saw just how young the deceased was, but Axel showed none of the surprise that the other two did. Instead, he pulled a knife from the sheath attached to his thigh and stabbed the body through the temple, blood dripping down from the wound as he wrenched it free.

Standing up, he turned his head to David while sliding the bloodied blade back into the sheathe. "You never really know when these fuckers are dead."

"There's a fire exit here." Ava pointed out, moving past the two men as she pointed at the wall slightly ahead of them. Following her finger, David noticed that she was telling the truth, a fire exit nearby where they found the body. The sign above was broken, the light no longer working and a crack visible in the glass outer case.

"This is behind a pharmacy." Axel revealed, clasping a hand on Ava's shoulder as he praised her. "Good eye. Let's see if this door will open before we start celebrating, though."

Quickly, his hand reached for the lever on the door and pulled it down, the door jiggling a few times like it was locked, but soon gave way when Axel, using most of his strength, shoved his shoulder harshly into the metal obstacle. This action came with some noise however, putting David and Ava on edge as they glanced down both ends of the alleyway, knowing that if walkers came by both ends, they'd be trapped. Swiftly, they entered the pharmacy through the fire exit and shut the door behind them, keeping anything from sneaking up on the group while they scavenged around.

The inside of the pharmacy was deserted. Rows of shelves that held very little, most having been picked clean by looters who came before. Axel went straight to work, taking anything he could find while Ava moved to the front doors, peeking through the window at the streets in front of the building. David moved over to her, wondering what was wrong when he saw the tiredness and the grief in her face as she kept lookout, but he was quickly stopped by Axel ordering him sharply. "David, see if you can find anything behind those counters. We're gonna need all we can get when the winter finally gets here."

"Is it gonna get that cold?" David asked, turning his attention away from the female survivor as he instead made his way over to the counters. Hopping over them, he started checking through the shelves there, picking anything that he could find while Axel replied to his question.

"All based on luck really. We either get a pretty mild winter, or we get absolutely fucked over. Any crops that we'll grow will fail if we don't be careful." He pointed out, moving along the shelves while cursing quietly to himself. "Why would anyone just leave pregnancy tests and take everything else? Fuckers."

David ignored him. Rather, he focused on the boxes of band-aids and bottles of cough medicine that were left behind, his foot hitting an empty bottle and sending it across the floor. The clinking of the glass bottle gave way to a loud shatter as the bottle smashed against one of the shelves. The others stopped what they were doing, frozen in fear that the walkers outside somehow heard that noise, and when the coast seemed to be clear, Axel's panic quickly turned to annoyance as he chastised David. "Are you fucking stupid!? Keep an eye on your surroundings, otherwise we'll be swamped with nowhere to go."

"I didn't fucking see the damn thing!" David hissed back, trying to keep his voice down and looking down at the broken pieces of glass on the floor, the dozens of shards shining in the light peeking through the boarded up windows. The glass crunched under his boots as he walked over it, moving over to the back of the counter area, noticing a door leading to somewhere unknown. Raising an eyebrow, he grabbed the doorknob and tried to turn it, his frown deepening when the door refused to budge. Taking a step back, he sighed to himself. "Locked. Fucking figures."

"There's gotta be some good shit in there." Axel suddenly spoke up, walking to David's side as his sudden appearance caused the other to jump slightly, glaring at the leader slightly while he continued, ignoring the look. "Keep an eye out for Ava. I'll search around here for the keys."

"Will do." David obeyed, moving back towards the counter while Axel went to work looking through the nooks and crannies to see where the key could be. Vaulting himself over the counter, he grunted on impact before straightening himself out, glancing over to see that Ava hadn't moved from her spot by the window.

Slowly, he walked over to her, feeling worry bubbling in the bottom of his stomach when she didn't pay much attention to him. Instead, she was leaning against the wall, staring through the small slit in between the boarded windows, her arms crossed over her chest while she appeared deep in thought. Quietly, he spoke out to her. "You doing alright there, Ava?"

"Did you see them out there?" She asked, moving slightly so David could see through the same opening that she was staring through. Looking straight onto the street, his breath died in his lungs when he realised just how many walkers there were in the streets. Stumbling around, the growls and moans were muffled by the building walls, but he could still hear if he concentrated enough. He had only seen this many back in Baltimore. From behind him, Ava continued with a quiet voice, sympathy clear in her words. "They just walk around and eat. There's nothing for you after you turn. Do you think they have families out there? People who remember them as people, and not those… things?"

"I don't know…" David confessed, his voice subdued as his eyes fell to stare at the wood in front of him. Her words resonated deep with him, making him wonder if there was anyone out there who knew the walkers stumbling along the street in front of them. If they were alive to begin with. Backing away from the window, he turned back to see Ava's face fallen into fear, the thought of what lurked just outside those doors putting both of them on edge.

"There's nobody out there who'd remember me. Hell, my mom probably forgot about me a long time ago." She started, keeping eye contact with David as she sadly confessed. "I...I don't want to be forgotten, David."

"You won't have to worry about that for a good while, Ava." David replied firmly, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder and keeping his confidence as he promised her. "No one's gonna forget you."

His words made Ava smile warmly, staring up at her friend as he returned her smile, both of them enjoying the brief peaceful moment before Axel's voice called out to them, echoing in the empty store. "Found it!"

"That was quick." Ava muttered, uncrossing her arms as she walked over to the counter, vaulting over it while David was just behind her. Quickly climbing over the counter, he jumped down and noticed the door, previously locked, was now opened with Axel standing in the doorway, waiting for the others to join him before he gestured inside with a flick of his head.

"There's prescription shit in here. Stuff our people need, let's round it up and head out before other scavengers stumble across this place." He ordered, moving in with Ava hot on his tail. David paused, feeling a chill run up his spine and goosebumps running along his skin. There was something wrong, but nothing he could see, and so he shook his head and moved to follow after them. Until, the sound of a gun cocking behind him caused him to freeze. It was no doubt that he heard it right, and looking behind him slightly, he saw, sure enough, a pistol being aimed at him, the unknown attacker staring at him with cold eyes hidden underneath their thick hoodie.

"Well, shit." He cursed, sighing to himself as he dropped his bat. "Yeah, alright."

"Tell your friends to come out with their hands up. If I see anything funny, I'm putting a round in your head." A low voice ordered, that and the height of the attacker suggesting that they were pretty young themselves. With the gun pointed at him, David had no choice to obey what they said, feeling the end jabbing him in the back of his neck as the survivor grew impatient. "Come on!"

"Ava, Axel. You guys might wanna come out here, and make sure your hands are up!" David called out, hearing cursed whispers and footsteps approaching them as he stood there. He never saw the person coming, nor did he know where they appeared from, until he saw that the fire exit door was open again.

This wasn't going to end well.


	9. Just A Kid

David scolded himself as he stood there, his hands up to show his surrender while the gun pointed at him continued to jab into the back of his neck. The thought of the kid pulling the trigger at any moment made his heart beat faster. He couldn't die, not then, not with Mariana alone at Charleston, waiting for him to come home. Inhaling deeply through his nose, he tried to keep calm while Ava stood in front of him and their attacker, her hands holding tightly onto her pistol as she stared up at him, unsure what to do while Axel kept close to her. His hand was held out in front of her, keeping the female survivor safely close to him as his other hand held the pistol up, trying to aim at the teen. Glaring at them all, the teen loudly demanded. "Drop your guns, or your friend's getting a bullet to the spine."

"Ava." David started, keeping eye contact with her as she glanced between him and the teen. With a deep frown, he nodded his head and ordered her. "Do as he says. Drop your gun."

Uncertainty was all he could see, but he knew that Ava trusted him, and surely enough she listened to his orders, dropping her gun on the ground with a loud clattering noise. Without anything to defend herself with, she raised her hands as the teen nodded, his voice softer when he muttered. "Alright, that's good. You too, old man."

"Watch who you're calling old, boy." Axel warned, refusing to lower his gun as David glared heavily at him. Standing there with a gun pointed at him, he didn't appreciate the other man gambling with his life, and was thankful when the teen decided not to just shoot him and be done with it. Instead, the teen just raised an eyebrow and lifted his head, showing more of his face with the light seeping in through the boarded windows.

"I don't wanna fight." He pointed out, his face softening as he tried to negotiate with the group. "So here's how it's going down. You two are gonna drop whatever you took from here and walk back out that door to wherever the fuck you came from, and I'll let your friend here join you."

Ava glanced over at Axel, waiting for any sign of what he wanted to do, and when she was given nothing, she turned back to David and the teen and started approaching slowly, her hands remaining up to show him that she was no threat to him. Softly, she started to address him. "You're here all alone?"

"No." He answered quickly, his voice a sharp snap while he continued to warn them. "My dad's coming back soon, and he doesn't like people going around in his shit. Stay where you are!"

"Okay, okay. Just keep calm, alright?" Ava obeyed, keeping her voice a soothing calm tone that seemed to make the teen less agitated. Stopping where she was, she stood on the side to David, able to see the teen clearly as she added. "Just let my friend go, and we'll leave. You won't be bothered by us again."

"Ava, we need that medicine." Axel pointed out aggressively, his hand tightening around his pistol while he glanced over at the other survivor, watching as she stood there with her hands up, ignoring his points with only a side glance as her acknowledgement of what he had to say. David wouldn't lie, he found himself siding with Axel on the matter. The medicine that they found here could set their community up for a good while, especially with the winter hanging over everyone's heads. On the other hand, the gun pointed at his head did much to persuade him to just leave this place alone, especially with the teen starting to get more agitated.

"We need this medicine more, it's all we got! This place is my dad's, all this shit is ours!" He growled, glancing between Axel and Ava while ordering them strongly. "Now, I ain't gonna ask you guys again. Lea-!"

David's body stiffened when a gunshot suddenly rang through the air, he felt the bullet just skim past him and heard yells of pain coming from behind him. His mind racing, all he wanted was to get away as he stumbled forward, Ava quickly running to his side as she held tightly onto his arm, pulling him away. Looking back over his shoulder, he was shocked to see the teen standing there, his hand pressed against his cheek, blood trickling over his fingers and dripping down onto the floor. Despite him holding the grown man at gunpoint, David was shocked when he felt himself feeling sorry for the teen, seeing the poor boy obviously scared as he stepped back when Axel closed the distance between them, kicking the gun that the boy dropped towards David.

Scooping it off the ground, he straightened himself up in time to see Axel still aiming his gun at the teen. Eyebrows furrowed, and when he was about to say something, Ava cut him off as she approached the others, having picked up the gun that she dropped before. With a quiet hiss, she warned him. "Drop the gun, Axel! He's no trouble to us anymore."

"You forgot that he just had a fucking gun to David's head? If this boy wants to act like a man, I'm gonna treat him like a man!" He snarled, unwavering even when Ava suddenly placed her hand on top of his, forcing him to lower the weapon while the teen stood there, staring at her with surprise clear on his bloodied face.

With a heated glare, she turned to look at the teen and replied with more sympathy in her voice. "He's just a scared kid!"

"We're all scared!" Axel pointed out, wrenching his hand from Ava's and taking one last look at the boy, before he turned back around. Budging past David, he carried on into the once locked room, ignoring the heated glares he was getting from the other grown ups as he ordered them. "I'm seeing what else is in here. Do whatever to the kid, but be ready to head out in ten minutes."

After that, he slammed the door behind him, leaving the others alone to do what they needed to do. While the others returned back to scavenging for supplies, Ava paid no attention to him, rather moving towards the teen and guiding him over to chairs near the boarded window. He was stunned, following after her with his hand turning red from the blood dripping out of his wound, and when he sat down Ava tried to get him to remove his hand to allow her a better look at this wound. David approached them, wincing when he saw Ava succeed in removing the hand, letting it fall to the kid's lap as she too grimaced at the state of his face. The bullet had only skimmed the flesh of his cheek, but the torn flesh and splattered blood made it look a whole lot worse.

"Jesus…" David muttered, watching as Ava gently grasped the teen's chin with her fingers and moved his head to get a better look, letting him pull down his hoodie to show more of his face. Even with the patchy facial hair, he only looked in his late teens, bushy hair shining a dull black in the miniscule light in the store and brown eyes narrowed with pain and fear clear in them. When she moved to touch the wound, he recoiled and whimpered in pain, causing her to pause and stare at him sympathetically.

"Sorry about that, kid." She apologised, turning her head to look over at David before she ordered him. "David, I need some disinfectant and gauze for this. You should find some in the backpack I left on the floor."

Nodding, he turned around to see the same backpack Ava had dropped before she tried to save him from his attacker, since the top hadn't even been closed, some of its contents were scattered around. Stopping in front of it as he picked it all up, he wondered how Axel could just pull the trigger like that, even with the gun poking into his spine just moments ago. Seeing the teen sitting there, alone and terrified and hurting sickened him, he tried to push that feeling down in his stomach as he shoved all the medicine and supplies that Ava had gathered, before walking back over to them with the bag in hand. The teen was watching him, narrowed eyes wincing when his own hand was brought up to brush against his wound.

He almost seemed shocked that Axel had actually shot him.

"It doesn't look like anything really bad." Ava explained, adding with a mutter. "Course, I'm not a doctor. I'd stop playing with it."

"S-Sorry." He mumbled, falling silent and instead watching as Ava turned to David, taking the bag out of his hand with a smile.

"Let's see what we have here." Glancing inside the bag, her hands dug around in the contents while David looked over at the teen, him and the teen sharing a look before the latter looked away, guilt and pain clear on his face that made the grown man think about just before. However, those thoughts were interrupted as Ava pulled out a bottle of a clear liquid, the worn label reading hydrogen peroxide. With the other hand retracting with a piece of cloth, she turned her attention back to the injured party and asked him. "So, you gonna tell us your name?"

"It's… it's Vincent, but my friends called me Vince." He replied, glancing down at Ava with a nervous look. Quickly, it becomes apparent he was unnerved by the sight of the disinfectant in Ava's hand, and quietly asked the older woman. "That's gonna hurt isn't it?"

"I ain't gonna lie, it's gonna sting like shit, but we gotta make sure it doesn't get infected." She explained, unscrewing the top of the bottle and placing the cloth on top of it, tipping it slightly to wetten it before screwing the top back on. With the cloth in hand, she moved closer to Vincent, nearing the wound with the disinfectant while pointing out to him. "Think happy thoughts."

Saying nothing, he just glared at her poor attempted joke before biting back a yelp of pain when she wiped down his wound. Without the blood splattered all around it, David could see how much damage was done to the face. When the blood stained cloth pulled back, the torn flesh made his stomach churn as he glanced away. He wasn't unnerved by violence. In the army, he'd seen it all, but to see it on such a youthful face, to see that pain and fear, he didn't know if he could ever get over it. While Ava was dealing with that, the newfound silence meant that they could hear approaching growls.

"What the…?" David muttered, moving quickly over to the window and peering through the boards. Outside, he could see more walkers than there was before, shambling towards the pharmacy with arms stretched out and growling loud even through the thick boards and window. The sight of the large group moving towards them caused David's heart to seize up, his face fallen as he backed away while cursing loudly. "Shit! You gotta hurry up with that, Ava."

"Why? What's wrong?" She asked urgently, looking over from Vincent's wound as both she and the teen glanced up at David.

Scooping the bat from where he dropped it, he turned back to the others when the sound of growling and banging on the windows caught their attention. With a deep frown, he stared at the boarded up window and replied. "We got company."

"If we stay here any longer, we're walker food." Ava pointed out, wincing when the boards started creaking under the weight of all the walkers on the other side. Turning back to Vincent, she finished treating the wound by placing a thick gauze over it, taping it to his face before standing up with her gun drawn. "Keep close to us, kid. We'll get you back to Charleston with us."

"You think that's a good idea!?" Axel grumbled, suddenly appearing out of the door with his backpack slung over his shoulder. Ava glared at him as he continued. "That kid nearly put a bullet in the back of David's head. Stephen ain't gonna like people like that in his community!"

"Funny, I thought Maria was in charge." David shot back as Axel opened his mouth but shut it again, saying nothing else as he just glared at him. Turning back to the loud banging when he noticed the boards starting to come loose, adrenaline started flowing through his veins, David glancing over at Ava and Vincent, before turning his attention to Axel as he added. "We wouldn't in this mess in first place if you didn't go all fucking trigger happy!"

"That's some fucking gratitude there, I saved your life!" Axel snapped, glancing over at Ava and Vincent as he approached them, the grown woman moving in front of the boy protectively while he growled. "We should leave your fucking ass to rot for the shit you pulled!"

"Hey, that's enough!" She shouted, glancing between the grown men while she continued. "We can talk about this when we're in the clear, which is not now!"

"She's right. We can get out through the fire exit here!" David agreed, looking over at the closed door leading back into the alleyway. Axel followed his gaze, before nodding in response and rushing over to the door with all of them following after. When he wrenched the door open however, they were greeted with walkers that had made their way down the alleyway beforehand, the door being slammed in their faces before they could try to force their way into the pharmacy.

"Fuck!" Axel snapped, turning to the others with a desperate tone in his voice. "We're trapped!"

"No, there's a staircase leading upstairs." Vincent revealed, catching everyone's attention as he pointed over at a closed door. "Come on, we can escape those ghouls up there!"

"Let's go!" Ava ordered, taking Vincent by his arm and running over to the door with him. David followed after her, his heart pounding loudly in his ears when he saw one of the boards slide down by the walker's constant pounding, allowing some of them to slip through the open space into the pharmacy. Axel noticed them as well, standing by the door to allow David to slip through before he too went through, slamming the door shut to stop them from getting in.

With Ava and Vincent waiting on the stairs, David paused at the bottom staring at the other grown man as he shook his head with a deep frown, turning to the others while ordering them. "This door ain't gonna hold. Find something to block it before they bust their way through! David, help me hold this!"

David nodded and shoved his shoulder into the door, feeling the walkers behind it starting to slam their hands against it, desperate to get inside to where the survivors where. The force started to build up, David glancing at Axel to see him straining as well, trying his best to keep the walkers from forcing the door open. One particular slam caused the door to open slightly, David grunting loudly as he tried to close it again. However, an arm stuck out through the space, dirtied nails attempting to claw at the men while they tried to keep the walkers at bay, more and more growling and smacking against the wood while David called up the stairs. "Ava, it's not holding!"

"Watch out!" She shouted, the sound of something rumbling towards them fast causing David to glance up. He jumped backwards as a cupboard suddenly came tumbling down, the door opening slightly without them keeping it closed. A flash of the walkers behind them stopped his heart, but the cupboard slammed the door closed once more. The arm that was sticking through it, trying to grab the survivors, was severed off from the force, dropping to the floor while the fingers curled up.

Staring at it in disgust, David looked back upstairs to see Ava standing there, panting heavily while staring down at the other adults. She looked terrified, especially when the door vibrated with the numerous walkers behind it trying to get through. However, the cupboard held its ground, keeping the danger out though keeping the survivors stuck in the upstairs apartment. Backing away, David started walking up the stairs with Axel behind him, his breathing slowing down with his heart as he knew he was out of danger. Calming himself down, he stopped when he reached the top of the stairs, glancing into the apartment when Axel moved past him, walking into the room and looking around with his arms crossed.

"Pretty cosy up here. You and your dad been here these few weeks?" He asked, turning his head to look at Vincent, the teen just walking over to the couch and sitting down on it. David, meanwhile, walked to Ava's side while she looked through the cupboards in the kitchen area, trying to see if there was anything inside that they could take. Besides a few canned goods, there really wasn't much left in there. David wondered how long Vincent could have survived in this apartment. Without his father, and the food situation dwindling as bad as they could see, he didn't really want to think about the possible future for the teenager.

Ava paid more attention to their conversation, intrigued with the mention of the young boy's father again as she turned away from the cupboards, leaving David to search through while she interjected into the talking. "It's pretty small to live here for a while. Was it just you and your dad."

David remained silent. Rather, he listened as Vincent explained with a deep sigh. "Yeah, it's just been us. I've lived here for a long time. It's pretty safe, so we can wait until my dad finds me again."

"Be reasonable, kid." Axel pointed out, walking briskly towards the window that showed the streets below. Peering down, his face fell at the sight that David and the others couldn't see, but the soldier could hazard a guess as to what it was he could see. In the background, the walkers were still pounding on the door, trying to break it down and flood upstairs into the apartment where the survivors were. Both David and Ava backed away from the cupboards, leaving what little food remained in them alone while they turned their attention back to the others in front of them.

"What'd you mean?" Vincent questioned, aggression clear in his voice as he leaned forward on his seat on the couch. Eyes narrowed, he glared heavily at the man when Axel didn't immediately reply to his accusations, and continued with his anger barely contained. "How am I not being 'reasonable'?! My dad's still out there, he's just scouting!"

"When was the last time you saw your dad, Vince?" Ava interrupted, moving from David's side as she put herself between the two arguing parties. The only calm voice there, she was able to keep Vincent from blowing up at the older man, and her question only dampened the fires inside the teen for a moment.

His frown deepening, he let his head hang for a moment, voice soft and unsure as he mumbled his reply to the older woman. "He left a few days ago. Said he was gonna see if he could get into a part of town that was sealed off. He told me to stay here until he comes back, so that's what I'm doing."

"A few days on your own. That must've been pretty awful with all the walkers out there." She pointed out, sympathy clear in her tone as she stared down at Vincent with a softened gaze that contrasted Axel's stern expression. David kept out of it, but he too felt sorry for the poor boy left alone in the apartment, wondering how he was able to sleep at night with the groans and the noises coming from just outside his window. Vincent seemed thoughtful over what she said, seemingly surprised with how terrifying that must have been, as if he hadn't considered it like that and just took whatever happened on the chin.

After a few moments on contemplation, he finally spoke up with a gruff reply. "It's fine. Those fuckers can't get in when you lock the door."

"Vincent..." David started, walking towards the arm of the couch as he slowly sat on it, staring down at the teen while the latter glanced up at him, both of them staring at each other for a few seconds as David tried to think of the best way to say what he thought without upsetting Vincent. Finally jumping into it, he carried on in a sterner voice. "To be honest, I don't think your dad is coming back."

"David!" Ava reprimanded, glaring heavily at him while he brushed her reaction off. "That wasn't the best way to do that, don't you think?"

"You guys don't know him." The teenager replied, getting an annoyed scoff from Axel, which he ignored as he continued speaking, raising his voice. "My dad knows what to do out there, alright? he'll be home soon and then you guys can go back to your community! We'll be fine here… We always have."

That last sentence was uttered with a quieter tone, Vincent appearing more unsure the more the adults tried to convince him to see reason. Ava, the only one out of the trio, moved closer to him until she finally sat next to him, offering him a comforting hand on his shoulder that Vincent didn't shrug off. Quietly, she glanced up at David, her stern, heated glares softening to uncertainty and sympathy for their situation, a look that David himself returned fully. Finally, Ava decided to explain to the teen, to try and make him see sense when all they could see was a missing father, and days where Vincent was all alone. Softly, she spoke up to him. "I know you miss your dad. We gotta look at this from our point of view, though, kid. Your dad's been gone for days. Even if he's alive, do you really think we'd feel better leaving you here, with all the walkers just downstairs?"

Vincent didn't reply immediately, rather he stared down at the floor with saddened glint in his eyes. David crossed his arms, his previously stern voice quieting as if he was talking to one of his own children. "You'll be safer in Charleston with us. If you still wanna look for your dad, we can do that some other day."

"And if I leave and he comes back? What then?" He asked, digging his heels in further and it soon became apparent that he would need more convincing to see the dangers of leaving him behind. David started thinking that maybe it was a lost cause. No matter what he or Ava said, it did little to convince Vincent that being in Charleston was safer for him than remaining at his home, waiting for his father to return when he might have been dead all along. However, Ava proved nothing if not stubborn and carried on with a stricter voice.

"Kid, do you think your dad would want you to put yourself in danger like this? Do you think he'd want to come back to find you dead?" She asked, keeping her cool when Vincent appeared shocked and continued before he could snap at her. She uttered her next words with a serious expression, trying to get him to understand the gravity of their situation. "That is what he's gonna find if we leave you here with the walkers. That door won't hold forever."

"We want to help you, Vince, but you're making it pretty hard to do that." David butted in, glancing over to see that Axel was growing annoyed with their persuasion, and quickly added in hopes that he could convince the teen. "Your dad could come to Charleston if he comes back here. It's not that far away."

Vincent noticed David's glances over at Axel, his face falling in anger as the two glared heavily at each other while the other scouts stood there nervously. Finally, he backed down, and with his sights set back on David, the teenage boy nodded slowly and finally gave in with a quiet mumble. "Alright. You guys do make that place sound pretty nice."

"Before we start welcoming people into the community and that," Axel started, grabbing the group's attention while he glanced out of the window again, this time moving away just as quickly and instead walking towards the center of the living room area, near the large TV that stood on the solid wooden stand. "We gotta wait until those smelly fuckers downstairs clear out. Keep quiet, and they should lose interest."

"Eventually." David sighed in frustration, walking towards the spot that Axel was previously standing by the window. Peering out, he could finally see what the other grown man saw beforehand. Walkers flooded the streets. All that infested the pharmacy below pushed others out of the building, leaving them to roam across the streets until an unlucky survivor stumbled across them. The moans and growls from the undead could be heard from where he stood, especially with all the living in the room falling silent as the arguments died down. With his back to them, David listened as Ava started muttering something to Vincent, the two of them quietly having a conversation that he couldn't make out, and it seemed that Axel wasn't joining in as he rather walked towards the window that David was standing by.

He didn't move when the newcomer leaned against the window sill opposite him, staring down at the plagued streets with no emotion showing in his worn face. His gaze was unfocused, as if he was staring at something that wasn't really there, and with his arms crossed tightly over his chest, he turned his head slowly to David and grumbled. "You really wanna give that kid a chance?"

"Other than aiming a gun at my head, he's pretty cool." David shot back sarcastically, glancing over his shoulder at the distracted Vincent before softly adding. "He's just been through a lot. At least in Charleston we can be there for him growing up, rather than just throwing him to the wolves. No point in giving up on others."

"You wanna know what I think? That empathy of yours is gonna get us killed one day…But at least it's something for you to hold onto. Not many people have something to keep 'em going." Axel pointed out, staring at Ava as she chuckled softly, laughing at something that Vincent said to her as the latter joined in laughing. The scene was heartwarming, David smiling faintly at it while listening as the other man continued with a gruffer tone. "Your friend has her heart in the right place but she lets her emotions cloud her judgement too much. She coulda gotten you killed before if Vincent decided to pull the trigger."

"She saved my life, even before this. She's my friend so back the fuck off." David snarled, feeling anger bubbling deep in his stomach as defensiveness wracked his voice, dropping it to a guttural growl that sought Axel off his back. Ava was his friend, hell, she was the closest person to David besides Mariana, and he found himself getting angrier with the other survivor before pushing it back down. His mind recalled the last time he lost it, back in the town when that walker grabbed Mariana. He scared her so bad, and he knew that if he lost it, he would terrify Vincent and probably put the teen off from returning to Charleston with them.

So, he let it go. Axel was surprised with the outburst, eyebrows raised before he returned to his stoic appearance just as quickly. David was sure he would reprimand him, feeling something in his gut that once they returned home, he would be running back to Stephen with the report on how both David and Ava fucked up. He didn't like leaving Charleston to scout, but that didn't mean he was fine with being benched either. He was sure Ava would agree with that as well. However, he couldn't stop that pleased feeling when Axel just shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, then. I appreciate someone who stands by his comrades. Just keep an eye on the walkers below."

And with that order, Axel walked away from David without saying another word. Rather, he settled down on one of the lone chairs, earning a glance from Ava and Vincent before the former looked over at David with worry, both of them saying nothing and rather just staring at each other for a few moments before she turned her attention back to Vincent, resuming their conversations while he kept watch. His legs ached from the running, the muscles in his shoulders starting to become tender when he pressed one of them into the cold glass, leaning the side of his head and, instead of watching the walkers stumbling around the streets, just stared off into the distance with an unfocused gaze. He didn't know how long it would take for the pharmacy to clear out, if it would at all, and his mind drifted to the blocked door downstairs with his mind running with numerous possibilities at once.

The door might hold, it might not have, but maybe Axel was right just before. If they kept quiet then the walkers would lose interest in whatever was upstairs and leave them alone, though he didn't know if that was even possible. The walkers seemed to stretch forever. Clogging up the streets, the alleyways in the distance, even dust being kicked up from the herd could be seen further down the streets of the city, and worry started gnawing at David's innards for the others in their group. Alexis, Carissa, Jordan. He hoped that most of the walkers were here rather than over the other part of the city. If they didn't reach the meet up point before nightfall, then Carissa would lead the group back to Charleston. David wondered if they would assume the worst happened to them, or hold out hope that somehow, somewhere, he and the others were alright. The thought of Mariana waiting for him to come home, it cut him deeply and yet gave him the determination he needed to try and get back home. Back to his daughter.

With the hours slowly trudging by, David didn't move from his spot even when Ava offered to take over watch. He couldn't sit down and wait. Doing nothing, it just left him with the time to mull over things that he didn't want to think about, and he hated being unable to do something to help the group. So, he kept watch silently while Vincent had fallen asleep. The poor boy must have been exhausted, likely not sleeping well alone and with danger outside his window, and David noticed that Ava sat beside him, letting the boy place his legs over her lap while he slept peacefully. Head leaning into the palm of her hand, she just stared at the broken TV with eyes half closed, between the point where she fell asleep and where she pulled herself away from the brink.

When he looked over at Axel, he noticed that the other grown man was nowhere as tired as Ava or Vincent, rather just sitting straight in his chair with his hands in his lap, thumbs twiddling with each other to occupy his mind, distracting the leader from the groans that they could still hear from the walkers. The slamming against the door had long ceased, and with the summer sun starting to dip behind the buildings, the walkers were moving away from the pharmacy again, on their neverending search for food. The sky was starting to change colour, the bright blue of the day giving way to the warm reds, oranges and yellows of the sunset, the shadows casted by the tall buildings casting the streets below in darkness. Some of the undead had stopped moving altogether, rather settling down on the abandoned road and waiting for food to come to them, and soon the darkness covered them from David's sights.

The room darkened more as the sunlight died out, the group starting to rouse up when Axel stood up, turning to Ava as he gestured to the sleeping Vincent with a flick of his head, explaining to her while David finally left his post at the window. "Wake the boy up. We're moving out."

"Is it safe enough out there?" She replied softly, lifting her head from her hand slowly while glancing down at Vincent's sleeping face. She seemed unwilling to disturb him, bringing him out of whatever dreams he was having and shoving him back out into the grim reality of their world.

Axel grunted in response, looking at the dimming sunlight outside as he muttered bitterly. "It's never safe enough, but if we stay here then we'll miss the meet up with Carissa and the others. We don't have much time left."

Ava conceded to that and moved her hand to shake the teen's shoulder, trying to stir him from his slumber. After a few moments of shaking him, big brown eyes opened slowly and blinked, ridding the sleep from them as Vincent brought a hand up to rub his eyes. As he glanced around in that tired haze, he almost looked confused as to where he was, and who the people surrounding him where, and David could see his face shifting to that split second of fear, his brain trying to work out whether what happened before was a dream or not while his hand moved to trace over the gauze taped to his face. That realisation hit him like a ton of bricks, and disappointment was clear on his face when Ava explained to him. "You gotta wake up, kid. We're leaving now."

"My dad… did he…?" He started, but let the words trail off when Ava gave him a grim look and shook her head without saying anything. She didn't need to, as Vincent understood from her face and gesture the answer to his question and just let the subject slid, that disappointment almost soul crushing to David as he watched in pity. Before he could offer any condolences, however, Vincent just swung his legs off ava's lap and stood up from the couch, unwilling to look at any of the adults as he just sighed. "Come on. We can get out through the fire escape in my bedroom."

"Sounds like a plan. Lead the way, Vincent." Axel ordered, allowing Vincent to move past him and towards a closed door leading into one of the two bedrooms in the apartment. David paused, glancing over to Ava as she rose from the couch and stretched her arms out until the joints popped loudly, letting them fall to her sides and turning to him with a faint smile. When he returned it, she quietly grabbed the bag she left by the side of the couch and moved to follow after the others while David grabbed the bat he left by the door.

With the weapon in his hand, he glanced down the stairs to the blocked door and wondered what Vincent's father would do if he did return after they left. With no way up to the apartment, he thought about what the missing survivor would do before he just shook his mind free of those thoughts, following after the others quickly. Ava had waited for him by the door leading into the bedroom, letting David pass before she too entered the room and closed the door behind her. The room wasn't all that big, with a single bed, a dresser, a wardrobe and a bedside table with a lamp that no longer worked. The window leading to the dire escape was opened, letting in the faint summer breeze that cooled David down as he peeked at a baseball that was left on the stand on top of the dresser.

A signature was scribbled over the greyed fabric, looking somewhat familiar to David as he went to pick it up, his hand freezing when Vincent snapped at him. "Don't touch anything."

"I take it you're a baseball fan?" David pointed out, letting his hand drop back to his side as he peered over at Vincent, noticing his expression turn from one of annoyance to pride. The teen moved from the window to his side, picking the baseball up and tossing it lightly in his hand.

"I started collecting signatures when I was just a kid. My dad took me to every baseball game for our team. The only thing we really liked together." He reminisced, his voice dropping in tone as he continued softly. "I was in the South Charleston High School baseball team. Pretty good at it too. It was after one of my games that my dad got me this baseball signature. Javier Garcia."

The mention of his brother's name caused David to frown deeply. In his gut, that familiar pange of jealousy stirred up as he stared at Vincent's proud face, his prized possession in his hand before he shoved it in his hoodie pocket, quickly adding as he turned around to walk back to the window. "It's just a stupid dream now. We got more pressing issues to deal with."

It was almost sad, thinking about Vincent's happy tone and eagerness to talk about something as simple as a signed baseball that his father gave him, and only for the pressing issues plaguing the group pushing that childlike enthusiasm down once more. David paused in following Vincent and Axel as they climbed out of the window onto the fire escape outside, glancing at a collection of photos that was taped to the wall above the teen's bed. Vincent in black and orange colours, a baseball bat in his hand and a huge grin on his face as he stood next to an older looking man, his dark coloured skin even darker than Vincent's. They looked happy. Slowly, he plucked it from the wall and held onto it, knowing that Vincent would want something more than just a baseball to remember his father.

"David, come on. We gotta go." Ava called, having slipped through the window as well and was waiting for him to join them, Vincent and Axel nowhere to be seen from where David was standing. Glancing back at the pictures, David pocketed one of them and walked towards the window, hauling himself out onto the fire escape with a deep grunt. Out of the apartment, he peered down to the alleyway down below, noticing that there was hardly any walkers down below.

"We can get down into the streets from here." Vincent pointed out, making his way down the fire escape ladder. "Follow me."

And so they did. Leaving the open window behind them, the group slowly descended down the old, creaking fire escape until they reached the bottom level. The last to climb down the ladder, David paused when he saw Axel and Ava peering down to the ground down below them. The last ladder that led to the ground was broken, the useless thing lying down below and leaving them stuck up above. Moving away from the edge, Axel turned to David and sighed in frustration. "Well, we can get down, but there ain't no getting back up here if it all goes to shit."

"Guess we gotta make sure it doesn't then, huh?" David shot back, watching Axel hum to that and turn his back to him. With a frown, he turned to Vincent and Ava, walking towards the two survivors while he explained quietly, unwilling to bring attention of anything that was lurking in the alleyway to them. "Be careful with the jump. Getting a busted leg is a death sentence out here."

"I can do it. Don't worry." Vincent replied, moving towards the edge of the fire escape and sitting down, letting his long legs dangle over the edge as he peeked down, making sure no walkers were directly below him before he pushed himself off. A heavy thud and a low grunt of exertion came from him as David looked down, noticing that the teen had managed to get down without hurting himself and was waiting for the others to join him.

"Outta the way, big boy. I got this." Ava joked, pushing past David and lowering her body to the floor of the fire escape. Her hand pushed against the cold metal, she jumped down onto the ground below to join Vincent, her heavy army boots making a loud thudding noise as they collided with the hard stone floor.

David paused, his face contorted in confusion as he gone over what she just called him, before he turned to Axel standing right next to him and asked him. "Did she just call me fat?"

Shrugging in response, Axel moved to sit down on the edge of the fire escape, pushing himself off and landing awkwardly on the ground below, his body hitting the floor and a loud grunt coming from the older man as he groaned in pain. Vincent and Ava chuckled at that, all while David watched in amusement at the leader's mistake, before jumping down himself. His knees bend with the collision, and quietly groaning in pain from the movement, David straightened himself up while Axel finally managed to pick himself off of the ground, brushing the dust off his coat while Ava shared a grin with Vincent over the mishap. Quickly, they lost the grin when he looked up at them, appearing serious while he started walking down the alleyway. "We can get out into the streets this way, then it's just straight back towards the bridge. Stick together and stay sharp. Walkers are more dangerous when you can't see them coming."

The other three survivors followed after their leader, Vincent keeping behind Ava and David as they walked down the empty alleyway, the open streets clear to see from where they stood. Watching the boy carefully, he noticed the teen glancing back over his shoulder, looking upwards at the window as they moved further and further away, before looking back ahead with a grim expression on his face. Turning his head back around, he listened as Ava pointed out. "You think the others are still waiting for us at the bridge?"

"I don't know." He confessed, peering down at her as he continued. "Carissa did say she'd leave if we weren't there by nightfall, and we're already running out of daylight."

"At least it's only over the bridge if they're not there, but there might still be walkers there. I don't feel right fighting with only four of us instead of six, especially if there's more than before." Ava sighed, fiddling with the dog tags that were left around her neck absentmindedly while David stared down at them. Almost on instinct, he reached for his own, only for his hand to meet air and the realisation that he didn't have them hitting him again. At the very least, Gabe had something to remind him of his father. Wherever he was.

For now, David would have to focus on just getting back to Charleston.


	10. Return Back Home

"So, what's this place like?" David glanced down at Vincent, the teen having moved to his other side and kept an eye on their surroundings in case any of the walkers sprung out of the darkness. The temperature had dropped immensely when the sunlight disappeared from the sky, rather the deep black and navy blues replacing the once bright colours of the day. David, the only one without a jacket, could feel goosebumps running up and down his exposed arms, his thin flannel shirt, great for heat of the day, nearly useless in keeping him warm, and then there was the fact that winter was coming in the distant future.

Rubbing his stubbled jawline absentmindedly, he started to recall his home with some clarity. "Well, it's pretty secure, and we have the people to defend it if needed. There's food, water, even rooms for people to sleep in the tower there."

"I've seen that tower over the water." Vincent revealed, looking up at David with a faint smile on his face, almost sounding excited to see that tower again as he continued to question him for answers on their new home. "The people there. What're they like?"

David said nothing about that. Instead, he moved his gaze from the curious to teen to Axel, staring at his back while he walked ahead of the group, scouting up ahead to see if there was any danger up ahead, or anything that could hinder their progress back towards the bridge. Vincent followed his sights, too staring at Axel with narrowed eyes before he just looked away with a scowl, shoving his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. Still watching the leader of their group walking, David quietly explained to Vincent. "There are some good people in Charleston. Maria's in charge, but don't be afraid to talk to her. She's really sweet."

"Not everyone's been exactly warming to me." Vincent pointed out bitterly, and David couldn't help but agree with him. Staring at the gauze on the young face, the sound of the gunshot echoing in the back of his mind and the sight of blood on the teen's clothes, there was nothing he felt for Axel other than wariness and contempt for him. Even when he recalled Stephen's words previously about his friend, David couldn't bring himself to actually care if anything happened or not. However, that part of his mind, that soldier in him that he relied on just to survive, scolded him for thinking about abandoning another comrade after making a promise to bring him home.

No matter the person, there was nothing he could say that would excuse abandoning them to the walkers. Axel did save his life, and he protected Ava on the bridge when the walkers attacked them. Saying nothing more on the matter, his mood turned sour when Axel piped up from the front, a tired and frustrated tone to his voice as he snapped at the others. "If all that shit before didn't happen, we'd have been home by now. Carissa's no doubt left us behind."

"Look, it happened. Even if the others aren't there doesn't mean we should turn the blame on each other. Let's just focus on keeping to the bridge." Ava ordered, her voice much more calmer than Axel's and soothing over the bubbling anger in David as he scowled deeply, matching Vincent's own hidden fury for the survivor in front of them. How badly he wanted to point out that it was Axel who fired the gun and brought the dead on them, but Ava was right. In the middle of the pitch black street, with walkers likely going to jump on them at any moment, right then was not the time to start an argument over who's fault it was. So, David held his tongue.

"It shouldn't be that far now." Axel replied, calming himself down as his voice dropped most of the biting edge. He sounded almost exhausted. David's scowl fell when he heard the voice, and rather he just kept following the leader of the group with a neutral expression on his tired face. In the distance, he could make out the spot lights that were used on the walls of Charleston, the light coming from the settlement highlighting the huge bridge spanning over the river.

"There it is." Vincent pointed out, pausing in his walking as the others walked past him. David noticed his missing companion and stopped, turning around to see Vincent just standing there, staring at the bridge in the distance with worry clear on his face, eyebrows furrowed together as he sighed to himself. When Ava stopped by David's side, they both listened as the teen asked them quietly. "I get that you guys are taking me there for safety, and I'm really grateful for it, but I just can't get it outta my head how worried my dad's gonna be… When he does come home."

His face fell when he uttered that last sentence. David and Ava shared a look, the latter turning her head back to Vincent and decided to walk towards him, placing a hand on his shoulder and offering him a warm smile when he met her gaze. That smile caused his face to soften, some of that grief and sorrow washing away, yet some still remained, and so Ava moved to his side and wrapped her arm around his shoulders, pushing him to walk with her as she comforted the upset teen. "Don't worry, kid. I'm sure your dad won't stop tearing through this city until he finds you."

"I guess you're right." He conceded, nodding slowly before he stifled a short laugh and recalled in a reminiscing tone. "One time, I got lost in this supermarket after walking away from my dad while he was trying to find some cereal I wanted so badly. I can't even remember the name now. When he turned around to see I wasn't there, he went ballistic. Tore through the aisle like he was possessed, even went to the security guard to see if I had been taken by someone or not."

"Sounds like someone else I know." Ava joked, glancing over at David as he just stared at her with a smirk. It was true, hell, he could see himself in the same situation as Vincent's father, though he admitted to himself that he probably would have been much worse.

Vincent grinned when he saw her staring at David, continuing his story with a snort barely cut off. "It's weird. He made all this fuss when I was gone, and then when he found me… he was just so calm with me. I saw him raise hell, fight people for what he thought was right. He never let anyone change his mind. But with me, he was always patient. Taught me to never let people tell me what's right and wrong, that I'd have to figure that out for myself… I miss him."

With the story finished, he shrugged off Ava's arm and instead walked past David, calling over his shoulder at them with a more subdued tone. "We should keep moving. It's pretty dangerous around here at night."

David watched him go with his smirk falling into a deep frown, sympathy clear in his face as he heard Ava walking beside him, the latter keeping her voice low as she started to voice her worry to him. "I know that he's just putting on a brave face, but I'm worried when he eventually does boil over. I hope he finds his dad soon."

"That's if he's still alive." David pointed out grimly, turning his head to see Ava glaring at him and sighed in frustration. "Look at this, Ava. His dad's been gone for days. Alright, it's not just him going down to the store for a few hours. This kid has been left on his own and his dad hasn't come back. I don't know about you, but I'd take clarity over hope any day."

"Hope's the only thing that stopping Vince from breaking down. No matter how hard things get, or how bleak, it's hope that keeps someone going." She explained, that hint of annoyance in her voice causing David to raise an eyebrow in surprise. Of all the things they talked about, he never saw Ava get so angry over what they were discussing, and walking by her side, he listened as she continued in a calmer tone. "You remember the weeks we spent in that car after we left Baltimore?"

"How could I forget it? Dealing with the space, the heat, even your snoring was getting too much." He replied in a deadpan voice, earning more heated glares from Ava as she shook her head.

"It's not something to joke about, David. I saw how little you slept, how little you ate or drank or even had time to yourself. You were so stressed about keeping Mariana safe from the walkers just outside our window. But you kept going, because you had hope that one day, we'd win against the walkers and find somewhere safe for that little girl." She paused, that anger and frustration towards David's pragmatism melting away and instead she smiled softly, glancing over at the approaching Charleston as she finished quietly. "And we did."

He had nothing to say to that. Rather, he just looked away from Ava and stared up at Charleston, his face looking thoughtful as he went over what she just told him. Maybe she was right, and it was hope that kept David from going off the deep end all that time they spent on their own. With the walkers growing more and more in numbers, and people starting to become fractured and leaving in small groups of their own, he couldn't stop that hope from fizzling out at the thought that humanity couldn't win. However, he pushed that away and scolded himself for giving up so easily. No matter how long it took, he'd help his people survive against the walkers, and maybe, he'd be able to find what was left of his family again.

Just as they started catching up to Axel and Vincent, the former stopped in his tracks and held his hand up, signalling to the others in his group to stop walking immediately. They complied, David looking over Axel's shoulder as he stared at the front of the bridge. With the light of the community on the other side of the river barely reaching the other end of the bridge, he found it hard to make anything out in the darkness, but Axel's words caused his body to stiffen as he revealed in a low voice. "Walkers. There's not that many, but we can't get past them to the bridge. Looks like we'll have to do some clearing up."

With that, he pulled his knife out of his sheath on his leg and turned his head slightly towards Vincent. "Stay back, kid. We don't wanna use any of our guns, the noise will just bring more."

Vincent did as he was told, backing away and letting Ava and David overtake him, keeping an eye on his back to make sure no walkers snuck up on the group from behind. With Javier's baseball bat in his hand, David approached the walker group with Axel while Ava flanked them, her smaller and lighter body meaning she was able to sneak past some of the walkers more easily and attack from a different angle. The walkers had noticed their approach, turning to face them with blank eyes and gnashing jaws, loud growls of hunger causing David's gut to twist in fear and his heart to beat faster. Axel broke off from his side, throwing his hand holding the knife into the side of a walker's head, the blade piercing through the rotten flesh and into its brain.

The corpse collapsed from the blow, head jerking when Axel pulled his knife free and left the body alone as he moved to the side, dodging a lunge from another walker while DAvid backed away from another one. One of the outstretched arms was cut off just below the elbow, the discoloured bone sticking out of the flesh while the walker continued to growl at him. Swinging the bat back, he grunted in exertion as he swung the bat around with all his might, feeling the wood splinter slightly when it connected with the side of the walker's head. The force pushed its head to the side, a sickening crack ringing in the air and making David suppress a gag. The smell of rotting flesh was almost overpowering, even without the summer sun heating up the decomposing bodies, and with the walkers being in such close proximity to David, the smell was getting harder and harder to ignore.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Ava kicking a walker in the knee and jumping back as it collapsed to the ground. As it tried to get back up, she quickly stabbed it in the back of the head with a knife that she likely grabbed from the kitchen back in the pharmacy. She straightened herself up and glanced over at David, her face falling from that smirk into shock as she called out to him. "Behind you!"

He spun around just in time for a walker to lunge for him, grabbing hold of his flannel shirt as he tried to push it off. It was surprisingly strong, looking like it hadn't turned for long with dark skin having greyed, blank eyes staring straight at him as the undead tried to pull him closer into its jaws, teeth snapping at him as the walker hungered for flesh. David dropped the bat, using both his hands to push the walker away from him, and noticed that other walkers were narrowing in on him. Axel and Ava tried to reach him, killing the approaching walkers while David backed up. His foot stood on the abandoned bat and caused him to lose his balance, both he and the walker falling to the ground and causing the bat to roll away from him.

"Get the fuck off!" He snapped, using one of his hands to keep the walker at bay while his other tried reaching for the bat left on the floor. His fingers brushed against the marked wood, David grunting loudly while the walker snarled in his face, and he realised that the weapon was just too far for him to grab.

In the background, he could barely hear Ava's voice calling out to him in desperation, the noises coming from the undead almost deafening. "Hold on, David!"

With both his hands gripping the front of the walker's bloodied baseball shirt, he managed to push the walker further away from his throat, turning his head away slightly to noticed that the bat had disappeared from where it was. Confused, he turned his attention back to the walker only to see the baseball bat slam against the side of its head, the force flinging the danger off of David and onto its back on the ground. Stunned, it slowly lifted its head only to be greeted by the baseball bat repeatedly smacking it in the head, the thuds of it connecting with skull and the head being mangled heavy in the air. To David's surprise, it wasn't Ava or Axel that had come to his rescue, but rather Vincent. Blood splattered on his face, contorted in grief and anger, he continued to beat the walker until it stopped moving alltogether, before he finally relented and backed away.

Still sitting on the ground, David stared at the scene with shock on his face when Ava reached his side, kneeling down beside him as she breathed heavily, clearly exhausted from fighting the walkers as she gasped. "David, holy shit, are you alright?"

"Yeah… I'm fine." He replied, still staring at Vincent with concern on his face. Ava noticed this, turning around to see that the teenager was still standing there, breathing heavily while staring down at the corpse, its head beaten so badly that the skull had completely caved in and the brain matter splattered across the tarmac. Slowly, David got back up to his feet, Ava beside him to offer any assistance in case his close case with the walker somehow hurt him. When he showed that he was capable on his own, she backed off and glanced back at Vincent as the other survivor called out to him. "Vince? Are you alright?"

Finally he turned around, the bloodied baseball bat in hand as he stared up at the grown man, devastation clear in his glistening eyes as he rubbed away some of the unshed tears. At first, his voice was quiet, almost too quiet for David to catch what it was he said, and yet he did. The words caused his face to fall in devastation, staring down at Vincent with sympathy as he sniffed. "M-My dad… he's…"

"Oh shit." Ava swore to herself, her eyes falling down at the still corpse behind the teen. David could see her making the connection between his words and what happened, and quickly realised who the corpse was. Axel stood a bit away from the others, just standing there with shock clear on his face, and much to David's surprise, he moved closer to Vincent and placed a hand on the teen's shoulder, standing beside him while muttering.

"I know he looks like your dad, but he's not anymore and it's gonna suck for a long time. Some days you'll feel fine, others the loss will hit you hard, but that's normal about grieving. You just gotta take this one step at a time, alright?" Vincent said nothing. Staring down at his dad's body, David moved to approach them, trying to think of anything to say that would make him feel better, but he stopped when Ava gestured for him to stay with her, shaking her head silently before glancing back over at the other two. David remained, watching as Axel did his best to comfort the boy in his grief.

"I just thought he'd come and find me in the end." Vincent replied miserably, staring down at the corpse as he stopped any attempt from Axel to move from away from the body. Slowly, his voice strained, as if he was trying to stop any of that grief and devastation from spilling over, before he just choked out in a broken sob. "It's all my fault. I should have gone with him! I shoulda been there!"

"That kind of thinking ain't gonna help, kid. If you were with him, chances are you'd be dead too." Axel pointed out, his face drawn tight and serious while Vincent just spilled out all his emotions. With a cry of anguish, he threw the baseball bat he was holding hard, watching as it bounced off the road and started rolling past Ava and David. They stood there, shocked with the sudden transition of Vincent's demeanour, and had to watch as he placed his hands behind his head, pacing with Axel just standing there. That stoicness on his face, something that was always there, was slowly but surely breaking away as he continued to watch the teen go through the pain of his loss.

"He told me to stay behind, to watch the house and the pharmacy while he went out to find food! I said yeah, like some stupid kid, I shoulda been there for him! How long was he out there, just walking about like one of those fucking things!?" His voice broke, the sheer emotion behind it causing Axel to show more of that sadness and sympathy that he clearly felt. Vincent ignored those looks, instead just rubbing his face roughly to get rid of those unshed tears that David could see in his eyes. Letting his hands drop to his sides, he just looked over at David and Ava with a broken look, his voice a quiet whisper as he just muttered. "I've lost everyone… I'm all alone..."

"Vince." Axel started, walking closer to him while reaching out his hand only for the other survivor to brush off any attempts for comfort. So, Axel let his hand fall back down as he replied sternly, trying to get him to see sense as he continued on regardless if the boy was listening or not. "You're not alone. The people in Charleston, they're good people who know what it's like to lose people too. They can be there for you, to help you. You don't have to go through this all by yourself."

The words seemed to calm Vincent down, gratitude clear on his face before he just glanced at the floor. He was trying. David could see that the teenager was trying so hard to keep going, but that broken face and slumped shoulders, he just looked so tired and done. Finally, he kneeled beside the corpse of his father and rummaged through the pockets, taking out what appeared to be a pocket knife, the blade springing out when he flicked it open. David ignored Ava's quiet protests this time, moving closer to Vincent as he explained. "He gave me this just before all this happened. Never used it for illegal stuff. I used it for whittling, something that my dad liked other than sports. I gave it back so that he had something to defend himself with… I guess it wasn't enough."

"You did what you were supposed to do." David pointed out, standing behind Vincent and holding his hand on top of his shoulder. Vincent glanced slightly over his shoulder, before looking back at the body while he continued. "You defended the pharmacy like he wanted to. You stood up against people that outnumbered you and were armed, and for that, I'm sure he would be so proud of you."

"Proud of what? I didn't stand to you guys, I hid behind you with a gun to your head. Even then, this was all I got." He gestured to the bandage on his face, before continuing on with an angered tone. "I let you guys take all of our stuff and left my home to be overrun by those things. I'm a coward. That's all there is about it."

With that, he stood up and gave one last glance at his father's corpse, before he just storm off towards the bridge. David stood there, until he took a few steps forward and called after the teenager. "Vince-!"

"Let him go, David." Axel interrupted, moving to his side as he too watched him walk off. His face had fallen in pity and sadness in regard to the situation, his voice gentle as he explained to the other grown man. "He just needs time."

David paused in his steps, frowning deeply at Axel when he looked over at him. Ava joined the trio, passing David the baseball bat that Vincent had thrown before. He took it silently, a grim look given to Ava that she reciprocated before they started walking after Vincent, David giving the corpse one last glance before they carried on walking. He thought about suggesting that they buried the corpse before, but with the commotion likely drawing walkers, and Vincent in no state of mind at the moment, he decided to let it slide. That being said, he still felt that guilt hitting him over just leaving Vincent's father to be chewed up by the walkers.

"I'm gonna go and see if he's alright. No one should be alone when that kinda shit happens to them." Ava spoke up, waiting for David to nod in response before she took off after Vincent. Watching her go, he kept an eye on the two while Axel sped up, walking beside the other man while watching Ava reach Vincent's side. The latter turned his head to her, listening to her whispering to him while David watched on, unable to hear what they were talking about and instead left Ava to comfort the Vincent on her own. He could always talk to the teenager later when they've reached the safety of Charleston.

From beside him, David listened as Axel quietly explained to him. "I had my suspicions that his father was gone, but for him to find the man like that… I wouldn't wish it on anyone."

"I gotta hand it to you, I thought you would have been an asshole to the kid over all this." David confessed, genuinely surprised that Axel hadn't took the opportunity to scold Vincent over holding false hope for his missing kin. Rather than being offended by his truthful words, Axel just stared straight ahead with a tight expression, his lips pulled in a deep frown as he continued to watch Ava and Vincent interacting with each other.

"I know I'm coming off as a hardass, and yeah, you guys may be right in thinking the worst from me, but I'm trying. I'm not a monster." He sighed, rubbing the back of his head while his other hand messed around with the hilt of the knife that was strapped to his thigh. David stared down at it, noticing flecks of blood on the hilt and his hands from fighting the walkers just before. While he continued to look over the small scars and blemishes that ran over the worn skin of the other man's hands, matching his own, David listened as Axel added in a somber tone. "What that kid's seen… that's what it's gonna be like from now on. Death, loss. That's all we have to look forward to, and it hurts… Fuck me, it hurts so much knowing that I can't protect my friends from that shit."

"We're in a war, Axel. It's not like any war I fought in. Hell, I'm not sure how we can win, but we gotta try. We don't just give up." David replied with a stern voice, staring straight ahead as he noticed Ava and Vincent waiting for them to regroup at the front of the bridge. Ava stood there, hands on her hips, as she shared a laugh with the teenager. However, Vincent's laugh was quiet, short, almost like he was forcing himself to laugh with her just for the sake of it.

When they were nearly to the others and the bridge, he heard Axel finish their conversation there with a quick grumble. "You may be right, you may be wrong. All we can do is wait and see."

David didn't retort to that statement. Rather, he just kept walking in silence, looking ahead with that stern frown on his face appearing sadder, eyes falling downwards to the tarmac road that led them towards the bridge and over. Ava watched as they came closer, staring up at David with a confused look as she raised an eyebrow, eyes flickering between him and Axel before she decided to let the conversation go when David subtly gestured to her with a raise of his hand. Vincent didn't catch any of their interaction, rather staring down the bridge at the community so close. The spotlights lit up the bridge, showing the abandoned vehicles and the corpses from the fighting beforehand, but the other people in their group were nowhere to be seen. Axel took lead, pausing just at the start of the bridge with his back to the others, showing whatever emotion was running across his face at that moment.

"Fuck it. Carissa took the others back to Charleston, hopefully. Just this bridge and then we're safe. Let's move out." He ordered, starting to walk over the bridge while the others followed after him. David kept to the back, allowing Ava and Vincent to walk between him and Axel while he kept a lookout in case any of the walkers found dead on the bridger weren't really deceased. His grip on the bloodied and fractured baseball bat tightened, and when he glanced down at his weapon, he noticed just how damaged his brother's treasured bat was.

The once polished wood was splintered, small fractures appearing where Vincent went too rough with the walker before, and all the times David himself used it to defend himself and his group over those weeks they spent on their own. Discoloured blood was heavily staining the bottom end, some of the splatter dried while the deeper, scarlet blood from before still dripped down onto the tarmac, leaving droplets of blood behind him as he walked along with the others. His mind quickly scolded itself, knowing that Javier wouldn't be impressed with his treasured bat destroyed like this. He could hear his brother whining, going on and on about how that was his first bat in his first ever game, the baseball player scoring a home run and landing his team a victory. Javier's first ever victory. One of many to come, until his brother screwed his future and career and ended up living on David's couch.

Even then, his family loved Javier. David loved Javier, but that didn't mean that he wasn't jealous of Javier as well. His mother always told David off for saying bad things behind his brother's back, complaining about how his parents always let Javier off no matter how badly he screwed up, and had abandoned them beforehand to go on some stupid tour around the country with his team. When his family needed him most, Javier just left. David could feel that familiar bitterness bubbling in his stomach as he scowled. That was when his thoughts reminded him that he did the exact same thing. His job after the army sucked, his marriage with Kate was in shambles and they just constantly fought like cats and dogs, and Javier was always there. Always fucking judging.

Prince Javi was what everyone saw. Screw up Javi was what David saw. Yet, he too was a hypocritical screw up. With his kids still young, still grieving over their deceased mother and Gabe wary of connecting with Kate so soon after Laura leaving them, David ran back to the army. Javier was there, and there was a part of David that was relieved that his brother stepped up, yet another part that was saddened that their roles had changed. Javier was becoming the responsible son, the good son. David was just the one who ran away when things got too tough to handle. At least in Charleston, he was able to help people, able to keep his daughter and Ava safe. That was his goal. His chance at redemption for abandoning Mariana and Gabe to run back to the army.

"You know, my dad was a big fan of trucks." He heard Ava reveal, looking up from his wrecked bat to see her turning her head to Vincent again, ignoring the male survivor behind them as they talked. "He always had a truck or two in our garden. We didn't have many neighbours, so no one would complain about the noise he made fixing them up. Every time he wasn't on tour, he was out there with me, teaching me how they worked."

"You said he was on tour? Was he in the army?" Vincent asked, curious about the missing man as he stared down at Ava.

She nodded, looking up ahead at the approaching walls as she explained to the youngest survivor. "Yeah. He loved his job, but he loved his family too. All the fights between him and my mom, all the stupid stuff that got blew up into something huge… and in the end, it didn't even matter. He was killed in action, just shortly after I enlisted too."

"Oh…" Vincent muttered, his voice trailing off as he looked away from her awkwardly. David watched the both of them from behind, saddened when he recalled a similar conversation about Ava's father back in the car. Quietly, almost too quiet for him to hear, Vincent apologised to Ava. "I'm sorry about your loss."

"Don't worry about it, kid. I miss him. Every day I miss him, but that's just life. People die, whether you want them to or not, but at least you can still look back and remember them for who they were, not who they are now." She smiled softly. Vincent returned that smile somewhat, before looking back at the settlement in silence. David kept his words to himself, finding some solace in Ava's optimism over her missing parents as he smiled warmly. However, that smile disappeared slightly when he remembered his own parents.

His father coming back as a walker attacking his own son after David and Javier pried him off their uncle and slammed him into that dresser. David could almost hear his mother screaming at him, confused and scared at the sight of her own children restraining their father like that, the soft words she spoke to a snarling Salvador ended with him tearing the flesh from her cheek. Walking along the road, knowing more about the undead that roamed their world and the death sentence that was being bitten by one, he recalled his attempts to save his mother in vain. Even if they had gotten to a hospital, even if his mother held out long enough, he doubted they would have been able to save her either. Now, she was just another one of those things, tapped in the same car that David abandoned weeks ago.

His grim expressions caught the attention of the other survivors in front of him, his thoughts quickly fading when he heard Ava call out to him, voice quiet and concern laced in her words clearly. "Hey, you doing alright?"

He looked in the direction of the voice, finding Ava having slowed down in her walking pace and appeared by his side, staring up at him with a worn smile that he couldn't bring himself to return. Looking away again, he frowned deeply, a low sigh coming from his parted lips as he pushed away his true feelings and lied. "Yeah, I'll feel better when we get back home, though."

"Same here." She replied, noticing that the group were nearly over the bridge and sighed in relief. "I know I'm gonna sleep tonight."

"Same. I'm so tired, and I think that walker bruised me bad when it knocked me over." David complained, rubbing his back with his free hand while staring ahead in a pained expression. Ava offered him a comforting smile, patting the upper part of his back softly as he winced, before letting her hand fall back to her side as she too looked at the incoming walls of their home. Leaving the conversation there, the group came to a halt in front of the imposing gate, Vincent backing until he reached David's side. Worryingly, he glanced up at the older man, seemingly unsure in himself as Axel banged on the gate with his fist.

"Hey, it's Axel! Open up!" He called out, looking up the wall to see if any of the guards were on patrol on top. After a few moments of silence, the grinding of the heavy metal gate being pulled was loud in their ears, the annoying ringing in David's ears causing him to wince while staring at the people that were appearing from behind the gate. In full view, he and Ava stiffened when they saw Maria and Stephen standing there. The latter frowned deeply, staring at the group as they slunked in like children that were in trouble, staring at them while Maria appeared more relieved, a faint smile on her face as she approached them.

Looking up at Axel, she brought him into a tight hug that he allowed, resting one of his hands on her back awkwardly as she finally spoke up. "I've been so worried about you guys! Carissa came back without you, and I couldn't help but think the worst."

"We had a setback. Walkers cornered us in a pharmacy and forced us to wait them out. It wasn't until nightfall when we were able to sneak out, and even then we had to fight more of those bastards coming back here." Axel explained, glancing behind him at the other survivors as Maria and Stephen followed his gaze. Rather than looking straight at David or Ava, they instead stared down at the blood stained and dripping bat that he held in his hand, Maria visibly unnerved from the blood that still dripped down into a little puddle on the ground. Ava and Vincent stared down at it as well, though the teenage boy was unable to stomach the sight of it as he looked away again, closing his eyes as he breathed loudly through his nose and exhaled out of his mouth in an attempt to calm himself down.

Maria was the first to look up from the weapon, meeting David's gaze as she asked him softly. "Are you alright, David?"

"I'm fine. Just a bit sore, that's all." He replied, rubbing his shoulder slowly as the muscles under his hands ached terribly. Pleased with the grown man proving to be alright, Maria left her concern there and just smiled with a brief nod, before turning to Vincent with curiosity clear in those green eyes. Glancing over at Vincent as well, he noticed the teenager slowly moving closer and closer to Ava's side, seeking comfort from her when confronted with an approaching Stephen. Micah was nowhere to be found, something unusual for the protective father that David knew.

Stephen looked at the newcomer up and down, a judging look on his face as he slowly turned to look over at Axel, waiting for the latter to explain who exactly the new survivor was. After staring at Stephen for a moment, Axel gestured with a flick of his hand at Vincent, his voice low as he explained to the second in command of their community. "This here's Vincent. We met him in the pharmacy where we got surrounded. We had some… problems with him."

"Axel!" Ava snapped, glaring heavily at him for his poor choice of words. David joined in, scowling at the other man as he couldn't help that pinge of betrayal hit him in his gut. After talking to him back on the bridge, after seeing him as more than just an asshole who thinks of no one but himself, and knowing how Axel felt with all that's happening, David thought that he'd give Vincent a break over what happened back in the pharmacy. It was over. Vincent apologised and David was fine, as well as the poor boy losing his father not shortly after.

"Ava, I'm not lying over what happened. I'm sorry. I'm just doing my job." Axel apologised, ignoring her heated glares as she glanced up worryingly at Vincent, the both of them unsure what would happen when Axel turned back to Stephen, going further into detail. "We found medicine there, a whole stash hidden in one of the rooms. While Ava and I was looking into it, Vincent appeared and held David at gunpoint. I had to make the shot to save him."

"He wasn't going to shoot, I had it handled!" Ava argued, moving forward as she squared off against Axel. He returned her heated glares with full force, all while David watched on with concern on his face, noticing Maria raising her eyebrows in shock at the truth regarding the newcomer. Vincent crossed his arms, his face fallen in grief as Ava continued in a saddened tone. "He was all alone and three strangers came in to steal his supplies! What would you have done, Stephen?"

Stephen said nothing. Rather, he lifted his head from staring down at Ava and looked over at Vincent, keeping a calm demeanor while Maria shifted her gaze between Ava and Vincent, looking back and forth as she tried to figure out what exactly to say about the revealed truth. Eventually, Ava added in defense of her new friend, her face fallen while she glanced away momentarily. "He's just lost his father, Stephen. He has no one left."

That finally pushed Stephen's calm demeanor away, and underneath that mask showed a sympathetic man who sighed deeply, his voice a low rumble in his chest as he scratched his stubbled jaw. Finally, he let his hand fall back down to his side and questioned the teenage survivor, maintaining his cool gaze while doing so. "Were you planning on pulling the trigger?"

Vincent shuffled on his feet awkwardly, unable to bring himself to look at Stephen as the latter added in a gruff tone. "You look at me when you answer, son."

He did so, finally bringing himself to look straight into Stephen's cold blue eyes and managed to maintain his gaze. Lips pulled into a thin line, he thought about what to say about the accusations against him, and all David could do was stand by and watch as the idea that Vincent might be denied entry suddenly hit him. Ava stood by his side once more, looking up at Vincent as he answered quietly. "No. I wasn't. I was just scared and wanted them to leave, but I wasn't prepared to kill David over it. I just thought if I scared them with the gun, they'd leave, you know?"

"You had your finger on the trigger, boy." Axel pointed out, a strict tone in his voice as he continued his telling off with a disappointed frown. "Whether you were prepared to fire the gun or not, you should never have your finger anywhere near the trigger unless you were willing to pull it."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I really am." Vincent apologised, glancing between Maria and Stephen as his words seemed to soften the latter's stoic exterior. Maria just smiled sadly, uncrossing her arms as she instead let one of her hands rest on her hip, and looked over at Stephen as he met her gaze. David watched them with bated breath, wondering if they would accept Vincent's apology and allow him into the safety of Charleston, or decide that the teen was undeserving of safety after nearly killing one of their scouts.

"You seem pretty genuine to me, and you're still young. You'll learn from your mistakes." Maria pointed out, turning her head to Vincent as he nodded in response. He looked genuinely ashamed of what he did, and yet David didn't have any resentment to the young teen himself, even when he realised that his life was in danger.

"Considering Ava's putting her neck on the line for you, I say we give you a chance here in Charleston." Stephen revealed, earning a visible sigh of relief from Vincent and Ava as the former's stiff shoulders relaxed. David relaxed visibly too, pleased that Vincent was given a chance to prove himself at the community. It would be safer for him there than out in the world alone. Stephen smiled somewhat when Maria approached Vincent, offering her hand to the teen and waited for him to return the gesture. Awkwardly, Vince took her hand and shook it with a quick peek at Ava while Stephen added. "You'll be monitored, however, due to what Axel told us. Nothing severe, just to make sure you can follow rules here."

"You'll be given a room next to Ava and David, just so you're near friends." Maria continued on, releasing her hand from Vince's grip and turning to David, her face more worried than it was a few moments ago as she revealed something to him, his stomach twisting painfully when he heard those quiet words. "Mariana's been waiting for you. She's with Grace right now, so I'd better go and put her mind at ease."

"I can go and show Vince his new place." Ava offered, looking up at David as he nodded in response. With a gesture for Vincent to follow her, the two walked past the taller survivors and started making their way back to the tower in the background. While David watched them leave, he could hear Ava happily joke with the teenager beside her. "You'll like your new place. It ain't much, but it's home."

He couldn't help but smile at the heartwarming scene as they walked out of earshot. With them gone, he turned around when he heard Stephen explained something to Axel, noticing the former standing closer to his friend and Maria listening in. Standing there, he waited when Stephen turned back around to him, his stoic face back as he just stared at David with calculating eyes, his voice gruff and low as he dismissed the soldier. "Well done out there, David. I'll be getting a report on how you did tonight, and I'll want to see you, Ava and Vincent tomorrow morning. For now, you're excused."

"Yessir." David replied, before taking his leave and walking quickly back to the tower. Staring up at the imposing building, he wondered how Mariana would react to seeing him again, recalling how worried the little girl was when he had to leave her that morning to go out the walls of their community, straight into danger just so they could find supplies to keep them going. He wondered if she'd throw a tantrum, similar to Gabe whenever David had to leave on tour or even just go around the store without him after he retired, not understanding that his father wouldn't be gone forever. Maybe Mariana would understand. She was only a child, but she had shown to be more withdrawn with her tantrums than her brother. That said, he recalled her refusing to get into the van with Javier and the others the night his father died and his mother was bitten.

He wouldn't know until he actually saw her again. Reaching the doors leading into the tower, he pushed them open slowly, peering in to see Ava passing a bag to Carissa, noticing that it was her backpack that she'd packed full of the drugs they found back in the pharmacy. Vincent stood off to the side, waiting for his friend to hurry up with his arms crossed and his back leaning against the wall. The teen was the first to spot him, offering David a small smile before turning back to the talking Ava and Carissa with an impatient frown on his face. Chuckling to himself, David decided to just leave them to it when he saw something running through the doors of the staircase. Confused, he quickly realised it was none other than Mariana who ran through and stood there as his young daughter spotted him.

"Daddy!" She called out ecstatically, rushing past Carissa and Ava as the former nearly jumped out of the way to avoid being bowled over. David couldn't stop that smile form widening as he kneeled down, his arms stretched outwards as he brought Mariana in close for a tight hug, feeling her small arms wrap around his neck and squeezed. In his ear, he could hear her happily explain. "I knew you'd come back."

"I'm sorry it took me so long to get back. Were you alright with Grace and her mom?" David apologised, letting Mariana move back out of his arms and rather placed his hands on her tiny shoulders.

His apologies caused her smile to fade slightly, and he noticed her hands intertwining as he recognized that little action. The poor girl was nervous, similar to how Laura played with her own hands when she was concerned about something, or hiding something that she didn't want David to know. Worry gnawed at him, his own smile fading as he repeated. "Mariana?"

"Grace's mom seemed sad. When Carissa and the others came back, she wouldn't answer me when I asked when you guys would come back." She revealed, her eyes unable to keep contact with David's as she stared down at her scuffed shoes. Over her shoulder, he could see Carissa and Ava standing there with deep frowns, the former holding onto the backpack handed to her with a tight grip, yet her face clearly showed the concern she must have felt for the young child. While he shared a glance with Ava, he could hear Mariana pipe up again. "She won't be sad now you're home."

"Yeah, I'm sure. Come on, let's go back to our room, it's getting pretty late." David suggested, standing back up again as he took his daughter's hand into his larger one. She looked genuinely happy that he was home, and that happiness radiating off her calmed his nerves down somewhat, if only that niggling thought in the back of his mind remained. He hated the thought that he'd have to go back out there again, if Stephen and Maria decided that he was best suited for it. Mariana would be constantly alone, having to deal with the thought that her father might not come back one day. She had the utmost faith in him returning, but that just made him feel worse when faced with the idea that one day she'd be wrong.

Ava approached them when they started walking towards the stairs, Vincent following after her when he greeted Mariana. "Hey there."

"Who's he?" Mariana asked, peering up at David with curiosity on her face.

"This is Vincent." David introduced, glancing up at the teen as he watched the latter rub the back of his neck with a smile. Mariana looked from her father to the other survivor, surprised to see someone new in the group and yet, soon her curiosity faded and instead a bright smile appeared on her face, waving at him while David continued to explain to her softly. "He'll be staying in the room next door."

"Yep. We'll be neighbours… sorta." He replied in a joking manner, returning Mariana's wave with a small wave of his own and his smile on his face growing warmer. The child seemed to be more excited with the idea of a new neighbour, and stared at down at her jacket when Vincent complimented it. "Cool jacket."

"Thanks! Ava gave it to me!" She replied, looking up at Ava as the grown woman chuckled at that, her arms crossed over her chest as she watched the two interact. David felt Mariana let go of his hand, and instead watched as she moved from his side and instead took hold of Vincent's hand, amused with how even the shorter teenager's hand still enveloped her's. With an enthusiasm he hadn't see in weeks, Mariana started to guide Vince towards the stairs while rambling at him. "I can show you your room. Maria lets us decorate it how we want, I got all my drawings on my wall! Ava said they're really good!"

David just let them be. Vincent glanced behind him at the adults watching him go with an awkward smile on his face, before he disappeared through the doors leading to the staircase. Ava and David glanced at each other, laughing when the teen was no longer there to get annoyed with their amused reactions. Mariana seemed to like the boy, and he wouldn't lie, it was nice to see her interacting with Vincent and make him feel more at home. Hopefully, they could help him get more out of his depressed shell and learn to move on from his father's death. The two survivors weren't given long to enjoy the humour of his situation however, as Carissa appeared by David's side and apologised in a low tone. "I'm sorry for leaving you guys behind."

"Hey, you did warn us that you'd have to leave if we didn't get to the bridge by nightfall." Ava pointed out, shrugging her shoulders as she comforted Carissa on her decision beforehand. "You wouldn't have known what happened in the pharmacy. It ain't your fault."

"You put the lives of your group first. That's what a leader should do." David joined in, staring down at Carissa when he noticed that she wasn't wearing her baseball cap. Rather, her shortly chopped hair spiked out in different directions without the cap holding it down in place, and showed that her otherwise dark eyes were actually green in colour. She allowed a small smile to form on her lips at that, clearly happy that David was comforting her rather than chewing her out for abandoning them to the walkers.

"If it's any condolence, Alexis chewed my ass out when we got back home. She really didn't want to leave you guys to the walkers." She revealed, chuckling softly while David grinned at that. It sounded like Alexis, the young woman likely unwilling to leave any behind if she had a chance to save them. From his side, he watched as Carissa just lifted the back of drugs and started walking towards one of the rooms that they used for storage, calling over her shoulder back at them. "I should really get these in lock up. You guys head back to your room, you deserve it."

And with that, she was gone into one of the ground rooms. Alone with Ava, David stifled a yawn while she decided to head up to their room, gesturing for him to follow after her as they made their way after Mariana and Vincent. The young girl was likely on the floor their room was already, showing Vincent his room while blabbering all about how he could decorate it himself. Suddenly, David recalled something and placed his hand in his pocket, pulling out the picture of Vincent and his dad that he took from the teenager's old room. He'd have to give it to him soon, and so David put it back in his pocket for safe keeping and kept walking up the stairs to his room, ready to just go to bed for the night.


End file.
